I came across a handy-dandy way to put povidone iodine (Betadine) right where you want it, without the mess of foil-wrapped gauze pads or cotton swabs.

I found small (2 oz.) spray bottles in the sample/travel section at Walmart. I thought it might be handy for hair spray or cologne while traveling, since it only holds the 2 oz allowed by the airlines.

I have been treating an infection on my dog, and had to do it outside, due to runs and drips of the staining iodine. I poured some Betadine in my spray bottle, and spritzed away! The medication went right where I wanted it, I got better coverage/application than trying to swab or wipe it on and drippage was greatly reduced.

Since the bottle has a cap that goes over the spray nozzle, This idea will work fine in my car and large FAKs.

Neat application. Back in the 60's there was an inventor type in my village who was involved mostly with vascular grafts, but got involved with povidone iodine early, too. His dispensing plan: he developed a water soluble hard povidone-bearing compound and had it molded into lipstick shapes. You were supposed to wet the stick in tap water and paint it on the wound. We had, without exaggeration, thousands of these things around the house as veterinary applications were explored. Never caught on. As a demonstration of the non-toxic properties of the povidone compounds, the inventor would chew and swallow a couple of the these bullet shaped items. No signs of iodine poisoning developed, but he did have some strangely tinted teeth...

Just as an interesting aside, the tendency to pour gallons of Betadine on a wound is NOT effective. Betadine works as it dries (don't know if it dessicates bacteria, or what). Anyway, the object is only considered "sterilized" once the betadine dries.

Learned that in school, and later reiterated in the OR multiple times (it's called being "pimped" by the attending surgeons)

But good idea none-the-less!

Betadine and povidone preps are basically iodine attached to a slow release polymer. Free iodine is what gives the disinfectant action, so theoretically with dilution of iodine into free solution such as water, or drying, I believe the iodine is better able to act as a disinfectant.

Eric

Try Fantastik, it works really well on iodine stains.

Pete