There is a controversy regarding the roles of the Normal saline and Tap water in irrigation of the wound. It has been suggested that antiseptic solution including normal saline has cytotoxic effect while tap water damages the fibroblast. There are no high level evidence to support one type of solution over other, systematic review have found no difference in wound infection between irrigation with normal saline vs tap water. There are ten randomized controlled trial comparing tap water with normal saline for irrigating wound published between 1992 to 2016. These RCT are analyzed in three systemic review and meta-analysis published on 2016, 2019, 2022, which showed that tap water and normal saline has no difference in terms of infection rate. The infection rate observed in various studies ranges from 0-11.5% in normal saline group and 0-12.6% in tap water group with no statistically significant difference.
Laceration wound presenting within 6 hours of duration
Lacerations involving upper and lower limbs, scalps, head and neck
Lacerations involving, lips, ears, mucosal surface, perineal and peri anal region
Punctured or penetrating wound
Bite wounds by human or animals or snakes
Dirty wound requiring surgical debridement
Parallel
Irrigating Traumatic Wound with Drinking Water
Procedure/SurgeryIrrigating Traumatic Wound with Drinking Water and Normal Saline
Comparison between drinking water and normal saline in irrigating traumatic wound: Noninferiority trial.
Difference in wound infection rates between the two randomized groups. Wound evaluation was based on the following criteria No infection: 1. No discharge or fever on day 3 2. Dry and no fever on day 7 Infection 1\. Fever greater than 1000 F or pus discharge on any day 2. Erythema with serous discharge on any day
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