Bactine First Aid Life Saver! By Jill Viers on Nov 13, 2008 - Updated Sep 18, 2011

On our recent belated honeymoon, my husband and I spent some time in the Keys. I ended up getting attacked by a swarm of sand fleas (basically, the near-water version of a chigger). My entire left leg was chewed to bits, and my right leg also had several bites. The bites were itchy, and if I started to sweat, they would burn.

Needless to say, that part of the trip was miserable. Fortunately, I was able to move past my itching, burning legs pretty quickly to have a good time. This was thanks to the Bactine antiseptic that I purchased.

There are many good first aid products, but I have always liked Bactine. It seems to penetrate immediately to get rid of whatever burn, itch, bite, scrapes, etc. Bactine uses benzalkonium chloride.

It is best to apply the Bactine with a cotton ball or something similar, but at the time, I itched so badly that I just dumped it all over my legs and rubbed it in with my hands. Literally, by the next day, the redness and swelling had gone down significantly.

If you ever get scraped, cut, or bitten, Bactine is a great product for relieving the actual injury and the coinciding pain.