Are mosquito repellent bracelets effective? Which is more recommended to use?

This type of product is not enough if we travel to areas at risk of diseases transmitted by insects.

Summer is synonymous with many good things, but also some bad things like bites. And as due to the high temperatures there is a greater proliferation of insects, we use mosquito repellent bracelets and whatever it takes to avoid “the sting”.

For some, mosquito bites do not go beyond suffering some itching, but for others it is a real problem because they are either very prone to suffer them, or because they suffer reactions skin excessive.

What is clear is that with the arrival of summer there is an increase in demand for all systems to repel insect bites:

• sockets
• lotions
• Floors
• sprays
• And also bracelets.

Supermarkets and pharmacies offer a great variety of these bracelets to avoid bitesbut are they really effective and safe?

How do repellent bracelets work and which one to choose?

This type of bracelets they repel insects because they contain biocidal products that either impregnate the bracelet or have a system to introduce a pill of these repellent products into them.

So far everything clear and enough in favor of repellent bracelets.

But given the wide variety of bracelets, which one to choose? Well, from the AEMPS they list some issues to take into account.

1. The first thing is that the bracelet has the sanitary authorization. This assures us that it is a product that has been evaluated by the AEMPS or by the General Directorate of Public Health, whichthat it does contain active substances of a biocide nature that repel insects, and that it is a safe product and effective, if the conditions of use established in the labeling are followed.

As a result of this, its labeling must always include a registration number that guarantees its sanitary control to the citizenship.

Are citronella bracelets and the like helpful?

In the market we can also find another category of bracelets, which contain substances that are not biocidessuch as, for example, citronella, its function being simply aromatic but cannot be considered as repellent.

• “These bracelets are not subject to health evaluation and, therefore, they do not have a registration number on their labeling and are not authorized& rdquor;, they explain from the AEMPS.

All this means that aromatic bracelets should not be used if we travel to tropical areas, where they will not be effective against insect bites, even though the packaging states that they are.

Are insect repellent bracelets effective?

With what we have seen so far, we could conclude that the most effective are the bracelets that contain biocides, but not in all cases.

The AEMPS experts explain that If this summer we are going to travel to areas at risk of diseases transmitted by insectsthe bracelets with biocide they will not be enough and therefore recommend:

• Do not use insect repellent bracelets exclusively, but do so only as a complement to other anti-bite measures.
• In risk countries it is important apply other products as repellents in lotion, spray, gel, etc.
• And not only biocides in different formats, the best thing in the case of these trips is to follow the preventive measures communicated by the health authorities.
• Lastly, the AEMPS recalls that these types of bracelets do not have an aesthetic use, so They should only be used when necessary and disposed of correctly to prevent biocides from being released uncontrolled into the environment.