Girl washing her hands correctly and efficiently using soap

Washing your hands has never been more important than now, due to the arrival of extremely malignant viruses for our health and well-being that are attacking humanity, that is why it is very important to learn how to wash your hands with soap correctly and efficiently and avoid putting our health at risk with invisible enemies such as viruses and bacteria that surround us without us knowing it.

Washing hands with soap and water reduces infant diarrhea by 50% and respiratory infections by 25% according to the Pan American Health Organization.

It is important to establish when it is advisable to wash your hands with soap, it is recommended to wash your hands:

Once you have finished defecating.
Before preparing food or handling any food or drink.
Before you breastfeed or feed your child.
After you clean your child´s feces.

To understand the explanation of the steps to wash your hands correctly and efficiently it is important to know the terminology of the anatomy of the hand [1].

The hand has three main zones which are:

The palm or palmar area: It is the part that we make contact when grasping or holding an object and it is where the fingerprints or palm prints are housed, and the skin in this area is usually more resistant to wear.

The back or dorsal area: It is the opposite part to the palmar area, there we have hairs and skin that is more sensitive than the palmar area.

Distal or distal area: Corresponds to the area where the tips of the fingers and nails are, it is the area furthest from the hand.

Proximal or Proximal area: It is the area of the hand closest to the wrist or the hand joint.

We have 5 fingers in the hand in order from outside to inside, with the palm facing up:

Thumb finger: It is the first finger of the hand, also called the big toe.

Index finger: This finger is also called the second finger of the hand, pointer finger, forefinger

Middle finger: It would be the third finger of the hand, called the middle finger and is normally the longest.

Ring finger: In Western culture they named it the ring finger because it wears the wedding ring and would be the fourth finger of the hand.

Little finger: It is the smallest finger of the hand and the fifth finger, called the little finger, pinky finger, small finger, baby finger of the hand.

Anatomical parts of the hand with the fingers and their names

Here are the steps on how to wash your hands correctly and efficiently with soap [2]:

Step 1. You can use both bar soap and liquid soap, it has the same cleaning function, add liquid soap in your hands or take the bar of soap and rub it in your hands.

Step 2. Rub the palms of your hand and your fingers on the dorsal part, first one hand then the other to spread the soap all over the dorsal surface of your hands.

Step 3. Separate the fingers of both hands and insert one over the other to clean the dorsal part of the hand and between the fingers, making in and out movements between the fingers.

Step 4. Do the same as step 3 but using the other hand, making the same movements of entry and exit between the fingers.

Step 5. Curl your fingers from the second to the fifth, and hook both hands with the curved fingers making repetitive movements to clean the dorsal and palmar part of the fingers hand.