Preoperative hand washing is normally based on scrubbing with 4 chlorhexidine gluconate, but the Guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nows recommends waterless methods using quick-drying antiseptics. Therefore, hand antiseptic eŠects and costs were compared between a 0.5 w/v chlorhexidine gluconate/ethanol lotion preparation and 4 w/v chlorhexidine gluconate by the glove juice method in 22 nurses. No signiˆcant diŠerence was observed in antiseptic eŠects between the two agents immediately and 3 hours after hand washing, but the ethanol-based preparation was more cost eŠective. Key words0.5 w/v chlorhexidine gluconate/ethanol lotion, 4 w/v chlorhexidine gluconate scrub, hand antiseptic