Can Iodine-soaked Cotton Balls Be Used to Clean Wounds?

Iodophor cotton balls can be used to clean wounds. The medicinal ingredient of iodophor is iodine, with an iodine content of 1%. Iodophor is a disinfectant formulated with water as the solvent and does not contain alcohol or other irritating components. Therefore, iodophor is widely used in the clinical disinfection of various traumas and surgeries, and it can be applied to wounds.

Iodophor can disinfect skin, mucosa, and wounds, especially by directly applying it to the wound surface for disinfection. Iodophor has excellent disinfectant effects and is non-irritating, and it has basically replaced alcohol in clinical practice for various disinfection purposes. Iodophor has a bactericidal effect, able to kill bacterial reproductive bodies, fungi, protozoa, and some viruses.

In medical settings, iodophor is used as a sterilizing disinfectant that can be used for disinfection of skin and mucosa. It can also be used to treat burns, trichomoniasis, fungal vaginitis, skin fungal infections, etc. It can also be used for preoperative and other skin disinfection, disinfection of injection sites, soaking and disinfection of instruments, and preoperative vaginal disinfection.

The common concentration of medical iodophor is 1%, which can be directly applied for skin disinfection and treatment. Diluted two-fold, it can be used for gargling in cases of stomatitis. A 2% concentration of iodophor is used for the disinfection of hands and other skin areas during surgical procedures, while a 0.5% concentration is used for vaginal irrigation in the treatment of vaginitis.