By - Pauline W. Fallis,

I thought it was time to look at the basics in infection prevention and control in Electrolysis.  It has been several years since I have addressed the basics.

As health care providers, we must do our clients no harm.  That has been in all codes of ethics for all health care professions, whether stated as clearly as this or not.  This is the basis for infection prevention and control.

Over the next few issues of the COPE NATIONAL NEWS I will be covering all the areas for prevention of infections in electrolysis.

Each Electrolysis business unit should develop infection prevention and control policies and procedures.   These are to reduce the spread of infections including infections from bloodborne pathogens like Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

In any profession that contains procedures that pierce the skin there is both a theoretical and documented risk of spread of bloodborne pathogens.  The more clients that are infected with a bloodborne pathogen before having electrolysis increases the risk of other clients acquiring an infection via blood.  That is unless, equipment and supplies are sterilized between clients.  Remember clients are not required to tell you if they are infected by any of the aforementioned diseases.

There are three considerations when assessing risk for electrolysis.  The potential risk of skin piercing procedures to cause an infection.  The frequency of skin piercing procedures in the population and the proportion of the clients that are infected prior to having their skin pierced.

Well, what is the risk?

To understand this you must understand the source of the infection.  We as humans have two very effective barriers to microorganisms entering the body, our skin and mucous membranes.  When these are pierced, germs have the perfect opportunity to enter the body.   This may result in an infection.  The microorganisms that do enter a client’s body through the procedure may come via contaminated instruments like needles, via the hands of the electrologist or from the client’s own skin or mucous membrane.

There are several ways that instruments may become contaminated.  The instrument may be contaminated with blood or body fluids from a client or professional.  The work surface where the instruments have been placed may be contaminated with blood or body fluids.   And, the professional’s hands may be contaminated before handling the instrument.

The clients themselves may be a primary source for an infection.  When the skin or mucous membrane is pierced, the microorganisms that are on the surface may enter through the opening.

As more and more people see the benefit of electrolysis the risk of there being a transmission of one of these diseases increases.  There is no statistics available to tell us how many people are having electrolysis done.  We do know that there are approximately 1250 electrologists practicing in Canada.  If you consider the number of clients that you have, and multiply that by 1250, that is a lot of people.

How many of those people come to you that are positive for HIV, HBV or HCV?   In the Canadian population, it is estimated that 0.5% are positive for HBV, 1% are positive for HCV and 0.15% are positive with HIV.

There have been few accounts of transmission of disease via electrolysis in the literature.  That being said, the potential is there.  All professional electrologists have a responsibility to maintain good infection prevention and control practices.

Next time we will talk about making sure you are practicing safely.