Antiseptic disinfectant

[Tilly Mint]

How does antiseptic disinfectant work?

[jason1980]

Antiseptic is to stop things going septic, which can be very harmful.

The disinfectant is to kill germs and stop infections,

So the two together is a good combination.

[Dr Hungry]

I think that TCP works by destroying, or lysing, the cell wall of the bacteria so they spill out everywhere and can't replicate. There are bacteriocidal antiseptics which kill bacteria and bacteriostatic antiseptics, which just stop them from replicating. Antiseptics work on bacteria that are outside the body, whereas antibiotics work on bacteria that are already inside out bodies.

I did my AS level biology coursework on TCP so sorry if it's not the kind of answer you were looking for!