UGH! The Ringworm clean up!

[yulkasilverfox]

I hope this is the right place to post this, it is about cleaning, so here it goes haha. Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying your weekend.
My hubby ordered an UV wand to see if we have any ringworm spores left in the house, and on me too since I got 3 leisures in total when our girl Skye came with her mysterious untreated ringworm. So, the main question is, does anything other than ringworm glows neon green under this light? I sort of notice that on my arm it glows very pale green, and on the surfaces it's more bright and neon like. Can some dust particles show up as green? Little hairs or whirls of fabric?
We did a good clean of the house yesterday with 73% rubbing alcohol, wipes, UV light, vacuuming, and I still find some of this green stuff on the surfaces. I don't want to get paranoid about it.
Our cats are quarantined in my office room. We took all the furniture out and gave them a space to roam. I checked the cats and Skye's hair is growing back and it looks better than before! There is a bit of brown crust on the tips of her ears but no green stuff. Merlin (our little dude) is clean too (well aside from his poopy pants and tail because he gets after potty zoomies).
We took Skye to the vet this week and the lady didn't see anything suspicious but decided to give us a week of itraconazole anyways with the does of 2.5 ml.

And if you have any advice, I'd love to hear it! And excuse my English, sometimes it's ok and at the other times it's slightly off haha

And here is the picture of what I'm asking about

 

[yulkasilverfox]

And I want to add that it's been somewhat 6+ weeks since we've started treating our cats first with tropical creams and chlorhexidine wipes, and then this week we added the itraconazole.

 

[iPappy]

yulkasilverfox I hope you're enjoying your weekend, as well!!
I am not sure about the light. Would it be possible to contact the manufacturer of the light (attach the photo) and explain the situation and see what they have to say? They might say it's nothing, or, if it's something, they'd have some suggestions for you.

 

[yulkasilverfox]

yulkasilverfox I hope you're enjoying your weekend, as well!!
I am not sure about the light. Would it be possible to contact the manufacturer of the light (attach the photo) and explain the situation and see what they have to say? They might say it's nothing, or, if it's something, they'd have some suggestions for you.

I think my hubby is regretting his decision to get this light already He went to our basement to where we rarely go because it still need a major re-do and said that there are green dots under this UV as well. I’m starting to think that there can be other things that glow green. I’d be freaking out more but we did a good clean of the house this weekend. My hubby placed an ozone UV lamp in every room for 30 min, and we wiped every furniture and surface with Clorox wipes, vacuumed the floors.
The only boxes I didn’t check off is floor washing and laundry

And thank you! It won’t hurt to ask and see what they can tell me. Having information is so much better than go crazy with the guessing game 🫣

 

[iPappy]

I think my hubby is regretting his decision to get this light already He went to our basement to where we rarely go because it still need a major re-do and said that there are green dots under this UV as well. I’m starting to think that there can be other things that glow green. I’d be freaking out more but we did a good clean of the house this weekend. My hubby placed an ozone UV lamp in every room for 30 min, and we wiped every furniture and surface with Clorox wipes, vacuumed the floors.
The only boxes I didn’t check off is floor washing and laundry

And thank you! It won’t hurt to ask and see what they can tell me. Having information is so much better than go crazy with the guessing game 🫣

Let us know how it works out! It does sound like the light is picking up other things, but it would be interesting to see what the manufacturer says.

 

[yulkasilverfox]

Let us know how it works out! It does sound like the light is picking up other things, but it would be interesting to see what the manufacturer says.

This seller is a clever person. On his page I found this information - “but for definitive guidance on the green dots and swirls, please speak with a doctor.” So, I’m afraid he won’t clarify anything

 

[iPappy]

This seller is a clever person. On his page I found this information - “but for definitive guidance on the green dots and swirls, please speak with a doctor.” So, I’m afraid he won’t clarify anything

Oh geez, that's pretty odd!!!
Can you let the cats into one single room and see how they do before giving them access to the entire house? I'm wondering if the green dots and swirls is just the light picking up on average household stuff, and is nothing to be concerned about.

 

[yulkasilverfox]

Oh geez, that's pretty odd!!!
Can you let the cats into one single room and see how they do before giving them access to the entire house? I'm wondering if the green dots and swirls is just the light picking up on average household stuff, and is nothing to be concerned about.

It could be! This thing is not researched well, so there is very little to no at all information on Google. The best given advice I came across is to keep up with a cleaning routine until it's gone. But I do like your advice about the relocation, that's a good idea!
I have to clean their room properly anyways because Mr. Poopy pants have done it again

 

[Caspers Human]

Ultraviolet light can make many substances fluoresce, not just cat pee or fungal spores.

Coca Cola can fluoresce under the right wavelength of UV light. So can your teeth.

When you shine a UV light on a surface, the green specs you see are likely just microscopic particles of dust and dirt.

When I worked in a chemistry lab, I used to use a UV light to detect certain substances such a fluorescein.

Fluoroscein ("Floro-seen") is often used as an additive in automotive antifreeze. It's the stuff that makes antifreeze look bright yellowish-green. They put it in there so that auto mechanics can tell if there is a leak in your car's radiator or cooling system. All they have to do is shine a UV light into the engine compartment. If there are any antifreeze leaks, they will glow bright green under UV. Now, the mechanic knows what he needs to fix.

Sometimes, roofing contractors will use fluoroscein to detect a leaky roof. They'll spray a mixture of fluoroscein and water on the roof then go into the attic, using a UV light and look for green spots.

When I worked in the lab, if I had a container that is supposed to contain dangerous chemicals (like cyanide) but has sprung even a small leak, bad things can happen. In order to tell whether the container is completely leakproof, I would fill it with a solution of fluoroscein and water then shine a UV flashlight on it. If there were any leaks, they would glow bright green. If there were any leaks, I would know to dispose of the bad container or repair it as appropriate.

Bottom line: UV light is not an indicator of a particular substance. It is only an indicator that the substance under test gives off its own light when exposed to UV. (Fluorescence.) Some substances absorb UV light and will look dark under a UV light. It is up to the user to know what he is looking for and the characteristics of that substance when exposed to UV.

 

[yulkasilverfox]

Ultraviolet light can make many substances fluoresce, not just cat pee or fungal spores.

Coca Cola can fluoresce under the right wavelength of UV light. So can your teeth.

When you shine a UV light on a surface, the green specs you see are likely just microscopic particles of dust and dirt.

When I worked in a chemistry lab, I used to use a UV light to detect certain substances such a fluorescein.

Fluoroscein ("Floro-seen") is often used as an additive in automotive antifreeze. It's the stuff that makes antifreeze look bright yellowish-green. They put it in there so that auto mechanics can tell if there is a leak in your car's radiator or cooling system. All they have to do is shine a UV light into the engine compartment. If there are any antifreeze leaks, they will glow bright green under UV. Now, the mechanic knows what he needs to fix.

Sometimes, roofing contractors will use fluoroscein to detect a leaky roof. They'll spray a mixture of fluoroscein and water on the roof then go into the attic, using a UV light and look for green spots.

When I worked in the lab, if I had a container that is supposed to contain dangerous chemicals (like cyanide) but has sprung even a small leak, bad things can happen. In order to tell whether the container is completely leakproof, I would fill it with a solution of fluoroscein and water then shine a UV flashlight on it. If there were any leaks, they would glow bright green. If there were any leaks, I would know to dispose of the bad container or repair it as appropriate.

Bottom line: UV light is not an indicator of a particular substance. It is only an indicator that the substance under test gives off its own light when exposed to UV. (Fluorescence.) Some substances absorb UV light and will look dark under a UV light. It is up to the user to know what he is looking for and the characteristics of that substance when exposed to UV.

Not only it put my mind at ease but I actually enjoyed reading it. Thank you for putting your time and effort into this answer! It's very educational, and it just clicks in your brain.
To my conclusion, UV light should be used only if you need to check yourself or your cats.

 

[iPappy]

Ultraviolet light can make many substances fluoresce, not just cat pee or fungal spores.

Coca Cola can fluoresce under the right wavelength of UV light. So can your teeth.

When you shine a UV light on a surface, the green specs you see are likely just microscopic particles of dust and dirt.

When I worked in a chemistry lab, I used to use a UV light to detect certain substances such a fluorescein.

Fluoroscein ("Floro-seen") is often used as an additive in automotive antifreeze. It's the stuff that makes antifreeze look bright yellowish-green. They put it in there so that auto mechanics can tell if there is a leak in your car's radiator or cooling system. All they have to do is shine a UV light into the engine compartment. If there are any antifreeze leaks, they will glow bright green under UV. Now, the mechanic knows what he needs to fix.

Sometimes, roofing contractors will use fluoroscein to detect a leaky roof. They'll spray a mixture of fluoroscein and water on the roof then go into the attic, using a UV light and look for green spots.

When I worked in the lab, if I had a container that is supposed to contain dangerous chemicals (like cyanide) but has sprung even a small leak, bad things can happen. In order to tell whether the container is completely leakproof, I would fill it with a solution of fluoroscein and water then shine a UV flashlight on it. If there were any leaks, they would glow bright green. If there were any leaks, I would know to dispose of the bad container or repair it as appropriate.

Bottom line: UV light is not an indicator of a particular substance. It is only an indicator that the substance under test gives off its own light when exposed to UV. (Fluorescence.) Some substances absorb UV light and will look dark under a UV light. It is up to the user to know what he is looking for and the characteristics of that substance when exposed to UV.

Caspers Human thank you for this, I had no idea! Very informative information, you learn something new every day.

 

[Caspers Human]

To my conclusion, UV light should be used only if you need to check yourself or your cats.

More precisely... Use UV light for a particular purpose.

Another story... When I worked in the lab, I often had to perform a certain chemical test using a solution of potassium permanganate. Potassium permanganate solution is dark purple, the color of grape juice. The test involved accurately measuring an amount of solution using a graduated burette. (Basically a test tube on steroids with graduated hash marks along its length.) The solution was so dark that you couldn't read the graduations. Through happenstance, I discovered that potassium permangante is opaque to UV light but the glass tube transmitted UV. By shining a UV flashlight through the burette, from behind, I could easily read the graduations.

So, every time I needed to perform that test, I got out the UV light and I was able to get accurate readings every time.

Point is that I knew the properties of the substance I was using and understood how it reacts under UV and I was able to use it, for that purpose, to get my job done.

If you want to perform a little science experiment at home, you might take your UV flashlight around the house, shine it on different things to see how they react to UV light.

Shine your light on a dollar bill then on a plain piece of paper. The difference between them can be used to tell counterfeit money from genuine money.

Try it with Coca Cola. Tonic water. (The kind you use to make a gin & tonic.) Jewelry (rubies/diamonds) Real rubies glow under UV light but fake ones won't. Vaseline. Different kinds of plants and flowers. Your own urine. Different foods. Toys and other ordinary objects around the house.

If you know how UV light works, you can use it for all sorts of useful things!

 

[PersiansPlenty]

Hello!

I too wanted to buy a UV light, so I started doing some research on it.
Repeatedly I saw reference to the "Wood's Lamp" UV light for skin analysis.
See this link for a better explanation:
What is a Wood's Lamp Exam? by WebMD

It emits a different wavelength UV light to detect fungus on skin.
It is not the same as a "regular UV light".

I did find and buy a flashlight "Wood's lamp" on Amazon.
This thing even makes my gel nail polish glow green on my fingernails,
and I know that is not ringworm.

One other thing I found is that a "real" wood's lamp is first turned on for a warmup period.
as seen at this website:
Revealing the Unseen: A review of Wood's Lamp in Dermatology

But it can be a "discouraging" tool as well!

• I scrubbed my pet bathing tub with a brush and HOT water and antibacterial dish soap.
• Rinsed it and let dry.
• Then saturated all surfaces with the "Renue" disinfectant; (diluted according to directions) in a handheld sprayer.
• I let that sit for 20 minutes.

Came back and examined with the Wood's flashlight.. and found about 10 "tiny specs" of florescent green.
So I sprayed it all down AGAIN, thinking maybe I had not flooded the area well enough...
20 minutes later.. same result.

What one does NOT know is sometimes better... In the past I really thought I was doing a great job disinfecting!

---------------
Has anyone else had similar experiences?
or maybe have further suggestions to improve my procedure?

 

[yulkasilverfox]

Hello!

I too wanted to buy a UV light, so I started doing some research on it.
Repeatedly I saw reference to the "Wood's Lamp" UV light for skin analysis.
See this link for a better explanation:
What is a Wood's Lamp Exam? by WebMD

It emits a different wavelength UV light to detect fungus on skin.
It is not the same as a "regular UV light".

I did find and buy a flashlight "Wood's lamp" on Amazon.
This thing even makes my gel nail polish glow green on my fingernails,
and I know that is not ringworm.

One other thing I found is that a "real" wood's lamp is first turned on for a warmup period.
as seen at this website:
Revealing the Unseen: A review of Wood's Lamp in Dermatology

But it can be a "discouraging" tool as well!

• I scrubbed my pet bathing tub with a brush and HOT water and antibacterial dish soap.
• Rinsed it and let dry.
• Then saturated all surfaces with the "Renue" disinfectant; (diluted according to directions) in a handheld sprayer.
• I let that sit for 20 minutes.

Came back and examined with the Wood's flashlight.. and found about 10 "tiny specs" of florescent green.
So I sprayed it all down AGAIN, thinking maybe I had not flooded the area well enough...
20 minutes later.. same result.

What one does NOT know is sometimes better... In the past I really thought I was doing a great job disinfecting!

---------------
Has anyone else had similar experiences?
or maybe have further suggestions to improve my procedure?

Hi!
I did have the same experience as you did. I'd soak and scrub my cats beds with Lysol hydrogen peroxide and I'd get a few of green specs here and there. Same thing happened when my hubby and I cleaned our house. You'd see the green specs on the surfaces, clothes, rugs.
However! I did try the UV light on my skin and it did show me the ringworm. The color is different, it's still green but more pastel like. I looked up some pictures on Google for comparison, and after that I knew the difference from what I saw around the house. And plus,
Caspers Human did a great job explaining things in this thread.

So I'd say to you, you did a great job disinfecting! Just stick to your cleaning routines and don't overthinking! Educate yourself with the all the information on the subject, and it'll be okay!

Hope that answered your question, or at least some of it

 

[yulkasilverfox]

Also, I have no patience with being sick or viruses and bacteria ( ), I wanted this thing to be gone from our lives, so we got this lamp in addition to our clean up routine:
UV Germicidal Lamp
M hubby got nauseous a few times from the smell, I had to open every window in the house afterwards. But other than that, everyone was fine.
REScue One Step Disinfectant and REScue Wipes
We used this to spray and wipe our cats beds and the surfaces they've been on.
Disposable Pet towels
To minimize your cleaning and use them for bedding
Topical Wipes with Ketoconazole
Skye's ears were really bad so I treated them with these wipes plus topical cream, and it made all the difference!

And we wore gloves and shoe covers when we went to clean and feed our cats, and afterwards we sprayed our clothes with rubbing alcohol or tossed them in our dryer on Sanitize mode.

 

[Caspers Human]

I'd like to remind people to be careful about UV germicidal lights. They are usually ineffective, at best, and can be dangerous, at worst.

UV light kills bacteria by damaging bacterial cells but UV light also damages cells in your body. If UV light is powerful enough to disinfect surfaces it's also powerful enough to harm you. Exposure to excessive amounts of UV light can damage skin and cause skin cancer. It can damage your eyes, causing damage to the cornea, lens, retina and nerve cells. It can lead to cataracts, loss of vision and, in extreme cases, cause blindness.

Yes, there are devices that use UV light to sterilize objects but they use very powerful lamps and they have closed chambers with safety interlocks that prevent people from being exposed to harmful UV light.

Use a little logic, here... If you have a UV light that is supposed to kill bacteria but doesn't cause harm to you, is it really killing bacteria? Probably not.

Another thing... UV lamps often generate ozone gas. Ozone is bad for you! I don't care what Gweneth Paltrow says! Ozone is BAD! Ozone causes difficulty in breathing, it aggravates asthma. It aggravates emphysema and other breathing problems. It damages lung tissue and, over time, is suspected of causing cancer. If ozone levels are high enough, even healthy people can get sick from it. That's the reason why weather reports often include a report on ozone levels. Elevated ozone levels can make people sick!

So... If you have a UV lamp and you seem to be getting sick, there's a good chance that the light is generating ozone.

UV flashlights that you buy in the store which operate on batteries are probably safe. Most of them use LEDs to produce UV light. They are usually not powerful enough to cause harm or produce ozone gas. Even so, I would still be careful not to shine them directly into the eyes. (Your eyes, somebody else's eyes or your pet's eyes.)

Ultraviolet lights can be a good thing if used properly. There's just way too much bad information being spread on the internet. Most of that bad information comes from scammers who only want to get your money.

 

[yulkasilverfox]

I'd like to remind people to be careful about UV germicidal lights. They are usually ineffective, at best, and can be dangerous, at worst.

UV light kills bacteria by damaging bacterial cells but UV light also damages cells in your body. If UV light is powerful enough to disinfect surfaces it's also powerful enough to harm you. Exposure to excessive amounts of UV light can damage skin and cause skin cancer. It can damage your eyes, causing damage to the cornea, lens, retina and nerve cells. It can lead to cataracts, loss of vision and, in extreme cases, cause blindness.

Yes, there are devices that use UV light to sterilize objects but they use very powerful lamps and they have closed chambers with safety interlocks that prevent people from being exposed to harmful UV light.

Use a little logic, here... If you have a UV light that is supposed to kill bacteria but doesn't cause harm to you, is it really killing bacteria? Probably not.

Another thing... UV lamps often generate ozone gas. Ozone is bad for you! I don't care what Gweneth Paltrow says! Ozone is BAD! Ozone causes difficulty in breathing, it aggravates asthma. It aggravates emphysema and other breathing problems. It damages lung tissue and, over time, is suspected of causing cancer. If ozone levels are high enough, even healthy people can get sick from it. That's the reason why weather reports often include a report on ozone levels. Elevated ozone levels can make people sick!

So... If you have a UV lamp and you seem to be getting sick, there's a good chance that the light is generating ozone.

UV flashlights that you buy in the store which operate on batteries are probably safe. Most of them use LEDs to produce UV light. They are usually not powerful enough to cause harm or produce ozone gas. Even so, I would still be careful not to shine them directly into the eyes. (Your eyes, somebody else's eyes or your pet's eyes.)

Ultraviolet lights can be a good thing if used properly. There's just way too much bad information being spread on the internet. Most of that bad information comes from scammers who only want to get your money.

I found some information about using a UV light here while I was researching about the ringworm. I asked around about using it and didn’t get a negative response toward it.

It’s a 25 Watts light bulb. When you buy it, there are directions for use and cautions. We placed it in each room and stayed clear of it until it was time to turn it off. Don’t look at it.
My hubby got a little nauseous (he’s very sensitive to smells) but I did ok. We aired it out after use.

I'm no expert but it wasn’t a negative experience for us. I simply shared what was used in our cleaning routine, so it’s totally up to people to try it or not.
I don’t mean to cause any harm with my suggestions.

 

[Caspers Human]

I don’t mean to cause any harm with my suggestions.

I didn't mean to say that you were doing anything wrong. My point was that there is a lot of misinformation about UV light and how it can be used. I thought it important to try to clear up some of that misinformation.

If somebody told me that eating broccoli cures cancer, I would probably just laugh. Yes, broccoli is a good food to eat and I think that more people should eat it but, no, it doesn't cure cancer. Besides, it would be really, really hard to eat enough broccoli to cause an otherwise healthy person to get sick.

On the other hand, there are many things that are good but, if used improperly, can cause harm.

I'm simply trying to help people with good information so that they can use UV lights properly without causing harm.

My hubby got a little nauseous (he’s very sensitive to smells)

I don't think that your husband's case was a simple matter of being sensitive to smell. In fact, I think that he was actually getting sick from exposure to ozone gas. If a person has any kind of respiratory ailment, asthma, emphysema or even just a bad cold, ozone can easily make it hard to breathe. Ozone can even make people who don't have respiratory ailments get sick.

I think you did the right thing by turning off the light and ventilating the house.