Type of soap and the incidence of skin tears among residents of a long-term care facility.

Skin tears are common among residents of long-term care facilities. This study evaluated the effectiveness of emollient antibacterial soap compared to non-emollient antibacterial soap in improving skin quality and reducing skin tears among residents of a long-term care facility. Skin tears were monitored over 4 months: non-emollient soap in the first and third months, and emollient soap in the second and fourth months were used. Rate of skin tears per resident per month were calculated. Incident reports were monitored the first month to establish skin tear rates using non-emollient soap. Skin tears decreased with the use of emollient soap (37% and 33% decrease in months two and four, respectively) and increased with the reintroduction of non-emollient soap (43% increase in month three). Overall incidence of skin tears with the use of emollient soap was 34.8 percent lower than that of the non-emollient soap. Analysis of variance did not show statistical significance [F(1,84) = 3.108, p = .0821], but clinical significance was demonstrated by the reduced number of skin tears with the use of emollient soap. While the etiology of skin tears seems to be a problem of aging, the decrease in skin tears in this study supports the continued use of emollient soap.