An antiseptic ( and ) is an antimicrobial substance or compound that is applied to living tissue to reduce the possibility of sepsis, infection or putrefaction. Antiseptics are generally distinguished from antibiotics by the latter's ability to safely destroy bacteria within the body, and from disinfectants, which destroy microorganisms found on non-living objects. Antibacterials include antiseptics that have the proven ability to act against bacteria. Microbicides which destroy virus particles are called viricides or antivirals. Antifungals, also known as antimycotics, are pharmaceutical fungicides used to treat and prevent mycosis (fungal infection).

Surgery

Antiseptic practices evolved in the 19th century through multiple individuals. Ignaz Semmelweis showed already in 1847-1848 that hand washing prior to delivery reduced puerperal fever. Despite this, many hospitals continued to practice surgery in unsanitary conditions, with some surgeons taking pride in their bloodstained operating gowns. Only a decade later the situation started to change, when some French surgeons started to adopt carbolic acid as an antiseptic, reducing surgical infection rates, followed by their Italian colleagues in the 1860s. In 1867 Joseph Lister published seminal paper Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, where he explained this reduction in terms of Louis Pasteur's germ theory. Thus he was able to popularize the antiseptic surgical methods in the English-speaking world. Some of this work was anticipated by:

Some common antiseptics

Antiseptics can be subdivided into about eight classes of materials. These classes can be subdivided according to their mechanism of action: small molecules that indiscriminately react with organic compounds and kill microorganisms (peroxides, iodine, phenols) and more complex molecules that disrupt the cell walls of the bacteria.