shaving cream to clean dirty butts??

[old heart]

Does anyone out there still use shaving cream to clean peri areas of stool, or to refresh smelly feet? A hospital around here has been using it for years (it works great) but doesn't know where this practice started, or if it's just here or if it's the practice in other areas as well. Any info you have would be appreciated....

[veronica butterfly, ADN, RN]

I learned of this practice when I was a NA in an ICU. It works great for really dirty feet, just helps the dirt come off. We'd put a little shaving cream in all the baths for male patients-- It just makes the male patients smell better so when their loved ones are close, they don't just smell the hospital smells.

We also put a little baby shampoo in a lot of the bath water.

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

I have used pure hand cream to clean diarrhoea. One of the reasons for rapid breakdown in patients with constant diarrhoea (or as one student put it - dire rear!) is the removal of the natural skin oils with the constant washing. ANYTHING that puts those oils back where they belong is a good thing. Any cream (as long as it is a gentle one) will do - just put the cream straight on the cloth and use that instead of water - works a treat and reduces breakdown. However I personally am a HUGE fan of Cavilon "Cavacare" wipes that leave a film on the skin.

[lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN]

It's been my experience that the alcohol in shaving cream is quite irritating to the fragile elderly behind. Lotion does the job, and doesn't harm the skin. The only time I would put shaving cream on a butt is if I were going to shave it, which is not likely.

[L&Dnurse2Be]

We had a resident whose family members had done peri-care on him using Lac-Hydrin, then wondered why his balls were red and raw. They had no idea the stuff had alpha-hydroxy in it, the same stuff Mom uses on her face as an exfoliant!)

Ouch!!!:flamesonb

[IrishItalianRN]

The LTC facility i was working in did this as well. However i worked graveyard (12am-8am) and the shaving cream was used to cut the butt odor after a cleanup until daytime hours when the residents took showers. Because at 2 am it isnt likely your going to haul the patient outta bed for a nice hot shower!

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

That might have started with shaving cream on the mask of the staff prior to entering a really stinky room. I remember that in ICU with end stage decomposition related to many ailments.

[student4ever]

I've never seen shaving cream used for this. We have Aloe Vesta foaming soap that is good for peri care. That & a few warm bath wipes usually do the job.

love the aloe vesta!@!!

[K205]

This my be TMI, but I've used it to shave "down south", and it BURNS!!

[epiphany]

I learned this trick many years ago and still use it in the ER--I use it with the sticky clay-like BM--works like a charm! I don't find that it is irritating to the delecate skin and I always follow it up with soap to clean off any irritants in the shaving cream. I think that getting the BM off quickly is less harmful to the bottom than using 20 washcloths and scrubbing endlessly :wink2:[/quote']

hmm... good point.

[ragingmomster, BSN, MSN, RN]

We always had "the bomb" for really sticky messes when I worked in the NH, way back when. A hot warm towel folded in half with a pile of shaving cream, two or three squirts of the usual peri cleaner and two or three squirts of whatever the emollient of the week was. Worked wonders and the emollient helped avoid the chafing.

[Loribabble]

I wouldn't use it regularly on someone.... but it works great when you get a new admit who hasn't been clean in weeks. Works great to cut though all that nasty caked on grime - especially the butts and feet.

As a side note I have found that it works well on cleaning carts too - ours can be really nasty and it drives me nuts. Just slather it on, let it sit about 30 min and then srcrub. Our unit usually has some down time so I usually do this about once a month. It always seems that our clean charts are the first to go and they always seem to be replaced with the really nasty ones. UGH!

[NicInNC, CNA]

I have seen shaving cream used, it was especially good on men with alot of body hair, get right in around it all. I have also seen mouth wash used in wash water of people with some really bad BO. And I have seen crisco shortening used for moisturizng and mixed with zinc to protect butts.

MOUTHWASH?????

It's all I can do just to swish with mouthwash because of how bad it burns. I bought some of that new Crest mouthwash that isn't supposed to burn at all, but it still burns my mouth. I can't IMAGINE putting mouthwash on she skin....especially the peri area.