Preoperative disinfection of the skin is an essential measure for reduction of postoperative wound infections. For this purpose skin disinfection solutions based on alcohols, sometimes with the addition of remanent active ingredients, such as chlorhexidine and octenidine are necessary. A preoperative mucosal antiseptic is recommended in the current German guidelines. Active substances with a limited effectiveness are chlorhexidine, povidone (PVD) iodine, more suitable are octenidine hydrochloride or polihexanide, both as an aqueous solution. Suitable active substances for intraoperative antiseptic rinsing or wound closure are PVP-iodine (but for which a negative effect on wound healing has been described), polihexanide and sodium hypochlorite (<0.08%).