What are the uses of iodine? How to wash with iodine?

In daily life, iodine tincture can be used to treat many minor ailments. Iodine tincture is made by dissolving iodine and potassium iodide in an alcohol solution. It is a common medicine in first aid kits. It can denature bacterial proteins, thus killing bacteria and fungi, and is therefore often used to disinfect wounds. Many people think that iodine tincture is only used to disinfect the skin before injections or surgery, but this is actually only one of its uses. What other uses does iodine tincture have? Read on to learn more.

Contents of this article

1. What are the uses of iodine tincture?

2. How to wash with iodine

3. Can iodine tincture still be used if it expires?

What are the uses of iodine?

Many people think that iodine tincture is only used to disinfect the skin before injections or surgery. In fact, this is only one of the uses of iodine tincture. In daily life, iodine tincture can be used to treat many minor ailments. Iodine tincture is made by dissolving iodine and potassium iodide in an alcohol solution. Iodine is a solid, and potassium iodide helps iodine dissolve in alcohol. The concentration of commercially available iodine tincture is 2%.

Iodine tincture has a powerful effect of killing pathogens, and it can denature the proteins of pathogens. Iodine tincture can kill bacteria, fungi, viruses, amoeba, etc., and can be used to treat many bacterial, fungal, viral and other skin diseases. Bacterial skin infection Staphylococcus aureus easily invades hair follicles, forming small pustules at the mouth of the hair follicles, with hair passing through the center, commonly known as folliculitis. It is common on the scalp, face, buttocks, and limbs. 2% iodine tincture can be applied to the affected area 4 to 5 times a day. Each time you apply it, let the cotton swab dipped in iodine tincture stay on the affected area for 1 to 2 minutes to facilitate the penetration and absorption of the drug. Iodine tincture often works in 2 to 3 days to treat folliculitis. If used before folliculitis forms pustules, the effect is better. People need to be reminded that iodine tincture is irritating to a certain extent and can stimulate the skin pigment cells to secrete pigments, leaving temporary pigmentation spots on the skin after use. Patients with facial acne (commonly known as acne) often have secondary infection with Staphylococcus aureus, which causes inflammation of the hair follicles and sebaceous glands, folliculitis or furunculosis. At this time, 1% iodine tincture can be applied (1% iodine tincture preparation method: add 90% or 75% alcohol to 2% iodine tincture and dilute it to a concentration of 11. For example, add 10 ml of alcohol to 10 ml of 2% iodine tincture and stir evenly). Since the facial epidermis is relatively thin, the drug is easy to penetrate and absorb, so 1% iodine tincture does not affect the antibacterial effect and is not easy to cause pigmentation.

How to wash with iodine

If iodine stains your hands, you can use 75% medical alcohol to wipe them. If there is too much iodine, you can use hydrogen peroxide to clean them. Just make sure your hands are clean. If iodine stains white clothes, you can use alcohol or gentamicin to soak them to remove the stains. Soaking them in laundry detergent and collar cleaner can also achieve better cleaning purposes.

If iodine tincture gets on your hands, you can use 75% medical alcohol to wipe them, which can prevent the iodine tincture from settling and causing the skin on your hands to turn yellow. If there is too much iodine tincture on your hands, you can use 3% hydrogen peroxide to wipe them. It is best not to use iodine tincture on a large area, as it can easily lead to iodine poisoning.

If iodine gets on white clothes, take off the clothes immediately and pour a little alcohol on them. You can also pour gentamicin. Both of these agents can eliminate iodine. Let it sit for 5 minutes and then wash it clean.

You can also use laundry detergent or liquid to soak the clothes for a long time, scrub them after an hour, and apply collar cleaner to the iodine-stained area and let it sit for two hours to effectively remove the iodine. Note that it is best to cover the stain with clothes to prevent it from drying out.

Can I use iodine that has expired?

Iodine tincture has a strong bactericidal effect, whether it is fungi, protozoa, or viruses and bacterial spores. Its mechanism of action may be to oxidize the active groups of its protoplasmic proteins, and combine with the amino groups of the proteins to denature them, so that the enzyme proteins are oxidized and inactivated. The effect of local use is direct and reliable. When iodine tincture acts directly on the lesion, a trace amount of alcohol evaporates immediately, iodine ions are deposited and penetrate into the matrix layer, hyphae are quickly destroyed, the lesion gradually shrinks, necrotic tissue falls off, collagen fibers proliferate and repair, making it scar-like or restore a certain degree of transparency.

Iodine tincture is a common drug in first aid kits. It can denature bacterial proteins, thus killing bacteria and fungi, and is therefore often used to disinfect wounds. Iodine tincture has strong penetrating power and can even kill bacterial spores, but it is harmless to the human body and can be used to prevent tetanus.

The outer packaging of iodine tincture clearly states that the shelf life is 24 months, which means that the effect and efficacy of iodine tincture can be guaranteed within 24 months under the correct storage method. However, the efficacy and quality of iodine tincture after 24 months, as well as any adverse reactions after use, cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, it is best not to use expired iodine tincture.