Dial's hand wash proves mild in comparison studies

Researchers at independent contract laboratories compared the Dial hand wash with other products containing the antibacterial active ingredient triclosan, a product containing the compound parachlorometaxylenol (PCMX) and another product with the gold-standard active ingredient chlorhexidine, according to the studies' lead author, Leslie Lockhart, Ph.D., principal scientist at The Dial Corp. research center in Scottsdale, Ariz.

"In our patch test we were able to show that Dial Complete is significantly milder than two of the comparators and not significantly milder, but still milder, than two others," she says.

Study No. 2 The researchers next conducted a study using a hand washing model, comparing one of the more irritating products (hand wash No. 2) from the patch test study with Dial Complete.

"We emulated the number of hand washes that a healthcare practitioner might do during the day, and we did that for five consecutive days," Dr. Lockhart says. "And we were able to show, with instruments and expert graders, that Dial Complete was much milder. The subjects, themselves, perceived the same sorts of differences."

Study No. 3 In another exaggerated hand wash study, researchers compared Dial Complete to the gold standard used as a comparison product in many U.S. Food and Drug Administration trials, 4 percent chlorhexidine gluconate.

When compared head-to-head for skin irritation, researchers found that Dial Complete had similar irritation profiles to the commonly used 4 percent chlorhexidine product.