What to do if iodine gets into your eyes

Povidone-iodine is a drug that can kill bacteria and disinfect. It is generally used when treating wounds. Iodine tincture is somewhat irritating, so when someone accidentally gets it in their eyes, it will cause great pain to the eyes. At this time, be sure to rinse your eyes with clean water in time until they are completely rinsed. After flushing, you will also need to use antibiotic eye drops to prevent eye infection. Below we will introduce how to deal with iodine tincture coming into contact with the eyes and the precautions when using iodine tincture.

1. Introduction to Iodine

Iodine tincture is an amorphous combination of elemental iodine and polyvinylpyrrolidone (Povidone). Polyvinyl pyrrolidone can dissolve and disperse 9% to 12% of iodine, which appears as a purple-black liquid. However, medical iodine tincture usually has a lower concentration (1% or less) and appears light brown.

Iodine tincture has a broad-spectrum bactericidal effect and can kill bacterial vegetative bodies, fungi, protozoa and some viruses. It is used as a bactericidal disinfectant in medicine. It can be used to disinfect the skin and mucous membranes, treat burns, and treat trichomoniasis, candidal vaginitis, and fungal skin infections. It can also be used for pre-operative and other skin disinfection, skin disinfection of various injection sites, instrument immersion disinfection, and pre-vaginal surgery disinfection.

2. What to do if iodine gets into your eyes

In this case, rinse your eyes with plenty of water to rinse out as much of the 502 in your eyes as possible. Pay attention to protecting your eyes at ordinary times, do not rub your eyes with your hands, do not stay up late, and use antibiotic eye drops after cleaning your eyes to prevent infection.

3. Precautions for using iodine

1. The validity period of iodine tincture is 2 years. It is best to choose a 100 ml small bottle for home use. It should be sealed and stored in a cool, dark place, but not in the refrigerator, because its optimal sterilization temperature is 30℃-40℃.

2. Iodine tincture should be used in an acidic or neutral environment because its bactericidal effect is weakened in an alkaline environment. Organic matter (such as oil, protein, etc.) can also reduce its efficacy and contact should be avoided.

3. The concentration of iodine tincture is 0.5%. It needs to be used for disinfection of injection sites for more than half a minute, for disinfection of skin wounds it needs to be retained for more than 2 minutes, and for disinfection of oral, gynecological and other mucous membranes it needs to be diluted 10 times with pure water.

4. Iodine tincture is corrosive to divalent metals such as copper, aluminum, and steel, and cannot be used to disinfect these metal products or soak items.

5. Iodine tincture has a certain antagonism to organic matter (such as oil, soap, etc.). If you encounter the need to disinfect such items, you should increase the drug concentration or extend the time to ensure the disinfection effect.

6. Iodine tincture is a mixture of free iodine and alcohol. The principle of its disinfection effect is still the super strong oxidizing effect of free iodine atoms, which can destroy the cell membrane structure and protein molecules of pathogens. If used properly, the results are very reliable. However, due to its strong oxidizing ability, it may also cause burns to skin tissue. So use alcohol to deiodine.