How effective is methanol as antiseptic on minor cuts? Is it safe? PLEASE read additional details.............

Question

I ALREADY KNOW it's poisonous to drink and can kill you or make you blind.

I ALREADY KNOW that there are other commercial antiseptics that are safe and inexpensive.

But for the purposes of my question, they're NOT available, okay?

(In fact, trained medical personnel, please do not answer. Your training compels you to give only a standard answer, which will not only be unhelpful but irritating. I'm not going to go so far as to report such answers as abuse, but I am asking you, please, to assume that I know more about the conditions relating to the question than you do.)

Is methanol too dangerous to be used as an antiseptic on wounds AT ALL, or could it be used in an emergency IF all other supplies were depleted?

Persons giving serious well-thought out answers will receive recognition, especially if you can provide references or brief case histories.

Persons giving a wiki reference as an answer will be rightfully ignored.

Okay, thanks to the first three answers so far. I guess I didn't phrase my question clearly.

This is a fictional situation with people away from civilization, etc.

There are some fairly severe injuries, some life-threatening due to loss of blood and there is a strong possibility of infection in all cases.

The vodka is all gone. All that's left is methanol from a charcoal still. (destructive distillation.)

Does this clarify things?

Answer 1

I am an MD but will try to answer anyhow as I am really interested in non-standards use of meds.

In an emergency (say an while sailing on the ocean), methanol could be used as an antiseptic for fi the skin as as prep for an operation (where it would not be very effective by the way). However a small cut does in my opinion not count as an emergency and so does not need an emergency-antiseptic. It in fact does not need any antiseptic at all just some cleaning with water or even soap.

Answer 2

Yes methanol could be used but as a "one-off" antiseptic. But shouldn't we be talking about a disinfectant. It would help to wash away debris but has lower disinfectant index than ethanol.

You should consult tables giving rideal-walker values.

How this gives you some guidance.

Answer 3

It's really not good for you and I would not use it.
Flushing with lots of clean water would be better than using methanol.
If this is about a needle stick injury you need to contact emergency services.
Glad to know you are OK!! but I don't know what I would do in those circumstances.

Answer 4

not sure