ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on skin decontamination, the timely removal of toxic materials from the surface of exposed skin. Effective skin decontamination is of significant military importance, as protective equipment designed to prevent exposure to chemical warfare agent (CWA) may not be worn at the time of an attack or may become compromised during military activities. While normal, healthy skin may impede the ingress of many chemicals, it is not a perfect barrier, so there will be a time-critical window of opportunity to remove sufficient amounts of contaminant from the skin surface to prevent or limit local or systemic toxicity.
