How To Disinfect Your N95 Mask at Home

hi I'm your mini van Dyken MD I'm a surgeon by trade but my true passion is helping people just like you obtain and maintain optimum health we've made videos on this channel before about why wearing a mask can be beneficial in preventing the spread of Cobra 19 and we even posted a video on how to make your own high quality filter mask this mask that we came up with is modeled after an n95 and it has very similar components the links for these videos are in the description below but what we've not really talked about yet though is how to clean and disinfect these masks ideally an n95 or similar respirator mask is designed to be worn only once it should then be discarded that's a no-brainer and that's what we did as health professionals precoded now there's a global shortage of masks with such a shortage hospitals around the world are looking for ways to be able to reuse these masks they're forced to find ways to decontaminate the masks and reuse them we just can't throw these masks away after one use like we used to so how can we decontaminate these masks and still keep them safe and working properly 3m one of the main US manufacturers of n95 has published a white paper in which they list four criteria that must be met in order for their masks to be reused one to inactivate SARS kohli to the virus that causes Kovan 19 number to not damage the respirators filtration number three not affect the respirator fit number four be safe for the person wearing the respirator in other words it can't have any harmful off-gassing as a result of the treatment 3m is very clear and that they do not recommend reuse or decontamination of their masks stating that no method achieves all these goals that being said though we're in a pandemic and we have to make do so what's the best method of decontaminating our and 95 what if it's our one and only in 95 we have to reuse over and over and over again well let's back up and take a few moments to talk about direction of the mask itself an n95 is made up of multiple layers of polypropylene nonwoven fabrics when we were creating our filter masks we actually dissected the n95 so we could see all the different layers among these layers the most critical one is the middle layer which is produced by a melt blown process this layer is anywhere from 100 to 1000 microns in thickness and it's comprised of polypropylene microfibers with a diameter in the range of 1 to 10 microns you can see it in this electron microscope picture here of the melt blown layer as you see all these little teeny fibers are melt blown in an arrangement that looks a lot like pick up sticks this arrangement creates a 3d network that has a porosity of 90% this leads to very high air permeability but because these fibers are so far apart you may think there'll be no filtration benefit you may think harmful particles can just float through the fibers like water through a sieve not so these fibers get charged into quasi permanent dipoles called electrodes so they get an electrostatic charge basically once this layer is charged it traps harmful particles these fibers are electrostatically charged as they are created this charge that they have allows the mask to filter much better without adding any density without making it more difficult to breathe through if this is weakened or lost the mask efficiency plummet so while the makers of n95 s do not recommend reuse or sterilization of their respirator masks we are critically short all of these masks worldwide we've got a compromise which is a whole different issue we are really just trying to do the best we can do with what we have which is kind of sad but true the CDC has issued some guidance regarding a few methods of decontamination the six most studied decontamination methods are as follows in no particular order one heat to steam 375 percent alcohol or ethanol for household diluted chlorine bleach the five ultraviolet or UV see light and six vaporized hydrogen peroxide gas some methods like vaporized hydrogen peroxide can only be done in hospitals or other large institutions that have access to the materials and the required equipment please guys don't try to make vaporized hydrogen peroxide at home it's actually really dangerous and it can become explosive UVC light has its own hazards it's currently difficult to get a UVC machine and even if you get your hands on one the disinfection parameters are very specific other methods are just not good for you they're toxic they're flat-out toxic things like a diluted bleach solution they're not a good idea while the solution will disinfect your Mac it will also leave a residual toxic gas that you'll be breathing in all day so that leaves alcohol steam and dry heat after reviewing multiple studies we feel that dry heat or heat with a very specific humidity is the best way to go using dry heat will make the mask last longer however heat with the specific humidity is better at deactivating Tsarskoe b2 scientists looked at alcohol disinfection so while treating with 70% ethanol has been shown to be a hundred percent effective in in activating the virus the n95 mask integrity is impaired the mattress doesn't filter as efficiently and it never fits the same again it doesn't provide an adequate seal there's a protocol called the italian protocol where the mask is sprayed with 70% ethanol the front of the mask has sprayed ten times the mask is then flipped and sprayed an additional five times on the interior this protocol did prove effective currently though 70% ethanol is very hard to find and thus the protocol is not practical for the average person so back to the protocol we suggest it's been studied for multiple cycles and demonstrated that it works well with little to no degradation of mask quality it can be used to sanitize your mask upwards of 10 to 20 times so here's all the stuff you're gonna need first Ziploc container you want a 1.25 quart size container second a convection oven with no direct line-of-sight to any radiative heat sources which would cause potential damage to the mask third a paper towel fourth water and fifth an eyedropper so here's what you're gonna do first you're gonna pre-heat your oven to 85 degrees Celsius which is 185 degrees Fahrenheit then you're gonna place your mask inside the container face down you're gonna cut a 2.5 by 2.5 inch square of paper towel and place it in the container alongside the mask you're gonna drop 500 microliters which is a half a milliliter or ten drops of water onto the paper towel this will provide the mask with the exact amount of humidity needed which is about 60% then you're gonna place the lid on the container nice and tight place the container inside the preheated convection oven again that's at 85 degrees Celsius or 185 degrees Fahrenheit next you're gonna let it disinfect or cook for 30 minutes because it actually takes time though to get the mask up to temperature the total time in the oven will need to be at least 40 to 50 minutes then you're gonna take it out you're gonna open the lid and you're gonna rotate the lid 45 degrees what this does is it allowed air to naturally flow around the mask and dry it out you only need to do that for 5 minutes after that you are done your mask is safe for reuse so there you have it what we feel is the safest and most effective way to disinfect your n95 or homemade quality filter mask let us know in the comments below what you think of this video also let us know if there's any topics you really would like to hear more about until next time everyone stay healthy stay well and Aloha

Channel: Out of the Doldrums

Views: 638,122

Rating: 4.5593734 out of 5

Keywords: how to clean n95 mask, corona virus, n95 mask, disinfect mask to reuse, covid-19, how to clean mask, mask, how to disinfect n95 properly at home, how to disinfect n95, how to disinfect n95 mask properly, how to disinfect n95 reusable mask, how to disinfect n95 with alcohol

Id: mzpoElFVQ9I

Length: 8min 40sec (520 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 20 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Ah geez. I can tell just from the screenshot and video time. Another video with 2 minutes of intro and 6 minutes of some joker trying to be clever, with about 30 seconds or actual info. Pass.

[u/pbarber]

Skip to 6:30 for the instructions