Question: I have always wondered how anticeptics really work, how do they work?

Kinda Al-Hourani answered on 25 Jun 2013:

Hey!

This is a great question. Antiseptics are used to reduced infection of skin and other tissues by bacteria. They can either kill off the bacteria directly or they can stop them from reproducing or slow their growth, preventing a major infection from taking hold. Antiseptics do this in loads of different ways. Some break up the DNA of bacteria so that the bacterial cells can no longer receive instructions to row or divide. Other make the cell membrane of the bacteria really leaky, so that vital nutrients like amino acids (needed to make all proteins) spill out over it and the bacteria don’t have enough materials to grow and survive.