Background. Antibacterial clothes are classified as a complementary treatment in line with antisepsis, although meta-studies are\nunable to find significant improvements of eczemas. Methods. The antibacterial effectiveness of conventional AD clothes was\ncompared across each other by (i) standard suspension tests for the appraisal of antibacterial products and (ii) a real-life setup of\naffected ADskin using S. aureus colonised artificial skin, to assess if functional clothes are effective under practicalwear conditions.\nAdditionally, the interaction of the fibre types with a moisturising cream was evaluated during a real wearing situation and after\ndomestic laundry. Results. In the real-life setup simulating dry skin microenvironment, all samples failed to reduce S. aureus. Silver\nand zinc-fabrics showed a slight activity only under unrealistic moist conditions. When using standard suspension tests, samples\ndiffered considerably in their antibacterial effectiveness, where silver and zinc endowed fibres outperformed AEGIS endowed\nsilk fabrics. Garments absorbed the cream dependent on the particular fibre types. Furthermore, domestic laundry was unable\nto completely remove the cream. Conclusion. Considerable differences in the antibacterial effectiveness of conventional AD clothes\nwere revealed. Under practical (dry) wear conditions, garments were unable to modify skin colonization with S. aureus, although\neffectiveness can be triggered by wetting the garments. Remnants of moisturising cream remain on the fibres after laundry.
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