Ultrasonic cleaning is the most effective way to clean your surgical instruments, particularly instruments with hinges, box locks and other moving parts. All instruments must be pre washed prior to being fully submerged in an open position using distilled (demineralized) water and an ultrasonic cleaning solution. Always rinse ultrasonic cleaning solution from instruments with distilled water prior to sterilization.
An additional way to clean besides ultrasonic would be to manually clean the instruments with Nylon or stainless steel brushes using a mild or low PH surgical detergent. We recommend strongly to not use the following steel wool, steel brushes or scowering pads as these may damage the instrument finish. make sure to always rinse any cleaning solution from the instruments with distilled water prior to sterilization.
The common caused for staining and our suggestions on how to avoid staining of the instruments are as follows: Staining is a surface deposit on instruments, and most often mistaken for rust. After autoclaving, you may notice a stain on your instruments. Rusting instruments are very rare. Stains on instruments appear in many colors and, in most cases, the colors tell you about the origin of the stain.
Orange/brown stain: The problem is most often a phosphate layer (brown to light orange) on the instrument, which develops as a result of any of the following causes: water sources, detergents used to wash and clean instruments, surgical wrappings, cold sterilization solutions, or dried blood.
Black stain: Black stains are commonly due to an acid reaction. Black stains may result from detergents used to clean the instrument; similar to brown stains caused by high PH in detergents. The black acid type stain can be caused by low PH (less than six) during autoclaving.
Dark brown stain: Dark brown stains are usually a result of dried blood left on an instrument. Blood should be removed from the surface of the instrument immediately. It will break down the instruments surface with a chemical reaction.
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