Why Does Peroxide Bubble on Wounds?

Hydrogen peroxide costs $1.00 or less at any retail pharmacy or grocery store. It comes in a dark brown bottle to protect it from light, which can easily break down its molecules. The chemical formula is H2O2, which is very similar to that of water (H2O) except that it has one more oxygen atom than water. It is generally available in a 3 percent solution--97 percent water and 3 percent hydrogen peroxide.

Hydrogen Peroxide Bubbles

• Hydrogen peroxide is a compound that easily breaks down into water and hydrogen (H2O and O). When the oxygen is released, it is in the form of free oxygen radicals. That means oxygen atoms with a negative charge. This is highly reactive, and a chemical reaction called oxidation occurs. This process refers to oxygen radicals' combining with other substances to break down molecules. As this happens, oxygen is released. This causes the foaming or bubbling reaction.

  Hydrogen peroxide kills bacteria by oxidation, which makes the bacteria decompose and become harmless. Oxidation makes protein molecules break apart and denature so that they can no longer function.

Killing Bacteria

• Hydrogen peroxide uses two methods to kill bacteria: oxygen free radicals and oxygen delivery. The free radicals break down the cell walls of microbes. After sustaining enough damage, the cells die. But it's not the germs that make hydrogen peroxide bubble. It's a substance called catalase. If hydrogen peroxide is left alone, it slowly breaks down into water and loses the oxygen. But catalase, which is present in blood and in body cells, speeds up this reaction. Larger quantities of oxygen are released, and that causes the bubbling. Oxygen is poisonous in high concentrations to some bacteria. So, oxygen foams in the wound as it is flooded with water. The oxygen is released quickly.

Catalase

• Catalase reacts with hydrogen peroxide quickly and efficiently: about 200,000 reactions per second. It foams up very quickly, and the bubbles resulting from this reaction contain pure oxygen. You can test this yourself. Potatoes also contain catalase. Slice a potato and drop some peroxide on it so that you can watch the foam and bubbles from the reaction. Hydrogen peroxide does not foam up in the bottle or on your unbroken skin or your desktop because there is no catalase present.

White Blood Cells and Hydrogen Peroxide

• White blood cells manufacture hydrogen peroxide themselves, and use it to oxidize foreign invaders and fight infection. Vitamin C fights infections by producing hydrogen peroxide, which, in turn, stimulates the production of prostaglandins. When the body is injured, it is the prostaglandins that cause blood vessels to dilate and increase their permeability to fluids and proteins. This results in swelling and increased heat in the area.

  Also, a friendly microbe called lactobacillus, which grows in the colon and vagina, produces hydrogen peroxide, which aids in preventing colon disease, vaginitis, bladder infections and other common infections. Human cells have the ability to produce hydrogen peroxide, and this is essential to life.

Harmful Bacteria and Hydrogen Peroxide

• Most harmful bacteria and cancer cells are anaerobic and cannot survive in the presence of oxygen or hydrogen peroxide. The chemical breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen is effective in treating infections on the surface of the skin. The foaming or bubbling reaction shows that hydrogen peroxide is working to kill these oxygen-intolerant microbes.