ESTHETICIAN AND OR INSTRUMENTS GO HAND IN HAND – ISSUE NO. 432

As a former Esthetician or a skin care therapist as some would call it, I provided skin care services to clients in helping them achieve the optimum skin they can have. With that, I used tools that allowed me to extract blackheads and whiteheads to allow the skin to breathe so that the products better absorbed into the client's skin. One of the tools I used was a stainless steel blackhead extractor. It had a loop on each end with one loop larger than the other. The loop is pushed down on the client's skin to extract the clogged pores on their face. After I am finished with the extractions I cleaned and disinfected the instrument. I washed the extractor with water and antibacterial soap. Then I would visually inspect and place the extractor in Barbicide to disinfect for 20 minutes and if it was clean, to use on the next client. I processed this device the specific way the IFU stated. Now that I am an Instrument Processor, I reprocess and sterilize surgical instruments for the OR according to the IFU, no difference. I wash and assemble instrument sets and visually inspect all instruments before they are High level disinfected and/or sterilized. Instruments, no matter what they are used for, must be free of debris before it is used. Whether it is for a facial or surgery, all tools must be either high level disinfected and/or sterilized. The cleanliness of the tools that are used on the client's skin is just as important as the instruments used in the OR for surgery. My goal was and is to ensure all devices are clean and functional before the next step in there reprocessing cycle.