Can iodine be applied on the face?

When there is an external injury on the body, we can actually apply iodine for disinfection. So, can iodine be applied on the face? Actually, it is possible. But everyone should also be careful, because iodine is a reddish-brown liquid, and it can easily leave color on the face after application. If you don’t want obvious iodine color to appear on your face, you can also choose other disinfectant products. For example, disinfectant cotton.

Many people think that iodine is only used to disinfect the skin before injections or surgery. In fact, this is only one of the uses of iodine. In daily life, iodine 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 it dissolve in alcohol. The concentration of commercially available iodine tincture is 2%.

Iodine has a powerful effect in killing pathogens, and it can denature the proteins of pathogens. Iodine 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 can easily invade hair follicles, forming small pustules at the opening of the follicles with hair passing through the center, commonly known as folliculitis. It often occurs on the scalp, face, buttocks, and limbs. You can apply 2% iodine to the affected area 4 to 5 times a day. Each time you apply the iodine, leave the cotton swab on the affected area for 1 to 2 minutes to facilitate the penetration and absorption of the drug. Iodine can often be effective in treating folliculitis within 2 to 3 days. The effect will be better if used before folliculitis forms pustules. People need to be reminded that iodine tincture is somewhat irritating and can stimulate the skin's pigment cells to secrete pigments, leaving temporary pigmentation spots on the skin after use. Patients with facial acne (commonly known as pimples) often develop secondary Staphylococcus aureus infection, which causes inflammation of the hair follicles and sebaceous glands, resulting in folliculitis or furunculosis. At this time, you can use 1% iodine tincture to apply (1% iodine tincture preparation method: add 90% or 75% alcohol to 2% iodine tincture and dilute it to a concentration of 1:1.

For example, add 10 ml of alcohol to 10 ml of 2% iodine and mix well). Since the stratum corneum of the facial epidermis is relatively thin, drugs can be easily penetrated and absorbed, so 1% iodine tincture does not affect the antibacterial effect and is not likely to cause pigmentation.