Iodine is as fungicide and mold is a fungus, so shouldent iodine kill mold? betadine is a commonly available form of it called povidone-iodine and is used as a first aid disinfectant.
Sure it kills fungus. It also stains most everything it touches, which is why it’s not real popular in household applications, and for medical applications, there are more effective preparations that aren’t so hard on your skin (also, it hurts on broken skin, which is why almost no one uses it for abrasion first aid anymore). I’ve used it on horses, though, only when nothing better was handy.
What is better than betadine? From what I read it is the most effective of the generally available topical antiseptics. The downside being the staining and stickiness. I know many hikers and campers swear by the stuff.
For mold, I suspect a disinfectant such as bleach would be more effective than betadine.
There are iodine based cleaners called iodophors that dont stain, are these effective against mold?
For killing fungus upon the human body, a topical anti fungal cream, for example.
For killing fungus on your horse, chlorhexadine (betasept) or, there’s another one that’s blue, I forget the name. Betadine strips the oils out of hair and skin, inviting cracking and further infection. Horse people usually don’t use Betadine as an all-over anti fungal because of this.
OP, can you clarify WHERE this mold is located? On yourself, on a nonhuman animal, on a porous surface, on a nonporous surface, etc.
If you have a preexisting condition that you know is a fungus, then certainly. My comment on betadine was for general purpose wound care–you had mentioned abrasions and broken skin in your previous post.
In the quoted portion, “something better” refers to something better, for equine use. My entire first paragraph started with “for fungus…” and refers to fungal applications, which is the question in the OP, who seems well aware that he has mold.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear.
its on a plastic surface. By the way I have very sensitive skin and I find betadine very gentle on the skin. Are you sure what you were using wasent betadine surgical scrub? that one has soap in it and has to be rinsed off.
So, is there a reason why you could not use bleach? It is much cheaper than betadine and is probably the most common ingredient in commercial mold and mildew removers.
Now that I think about it, it was probably was surgical scrub. I haven’t seen the straight up Betadine in years.
The area I need to use it on would get damaged by bleach and it’s in a enclosed area so the bleach fumes would be too strong. I have a bunch of betadine and it’s a broad spectrum killer thats pretty gentle to work with so I’m curious if it would kill mold.
Halogens are serious oxidising atoms. They don’t fool around. Hydrofluoric acid kills a few scientists every year.
Halogens are lethal to biological organisms in sufficient quantities.
Iodine is a winner. Yes it will kill viruses and bacteria. Mould is easy.
FYI halogens are group 7 on the Periodic Table being fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and astatine, which form a salt by direct union with a metal.
If it works do good on mold I’m surprised its not used more for that purpose because it has no smell and is gentle on the skin.
Again the reason most people don’t use it, us that they don’t have in their homes. They don’t have it, because for general first aid purposes, it stains and it hurts like a motherfuck. Yes, you could go and find some special no staining product, but why would you do that when you already have alcohol and peroxide in your first aid kit? People who need an anti fungal for their skin buy an anti fungal for their skin.
Do you work for Betadine or something? Most people don’t go out of their way to purchase a product with Betadine’s notable faults. I get that you happen to have a large quantity of it handy, but it shouldn’t be at all confusing why others do not. At this point, it’s an obscure product, that’s actually a little hard to find even in the standard version.
Yes, when applied directly to a fungus, Iodine will kill it. But it usually is ineffective against fungal* infections *as it doesn’t get deep enough or stay in place long enough to root out the fungus.
It should work OK on an exposed plastic, but it will likely stain. Alcohol would work also, as would boiling water, or my fave- boiling vinegar (some plastics may deform if boiling water is applied). Pine-sol will also work, and it smell sgreat.
I am not a real doctor.
I use a strong bleach solution to kill the mold/fungus that aggregates on my bathroom ceiling. Works for a while, then it recolonizes, 'cause my landlord won’t replace the loose bathtub surround that harbors the mother colony, and I can’t get bleach back there to kill it all.
Running water is what’s currently recommend for first aid for superficial wounds. No soap, no hydrogen peroxide or betadine or iodine, all of which can cause cellular damage and *slow *wound healing. Any wound that’s deep enough, open enough or irregular enough that you can’t easily clean it under the tap needs professional evaluation and a prescribed treatment plan.
For longer term wound care, there are wound cleansing sprays and saline to clean and irrigate wounds. The one I use most (Sea-Clens) lists: water, decyl glucoside, sodium chloride (USP), citric acid, diazolindyl urea, methyl paraben, tetrasodium EDTA. It’s designed to soften and remove necrotic tissue. Again, no hydrogen peroxide or betadine or iodine.
I sometimes use iodoform (iodine reacted with ethanol or acetone and sodium hydroxide) tape to pack infected abscesses, but that’s because killing the infection and removing necrotic tissue is important, and iodoform doesn’t do as much damage to healthy tissues as elemental iodine. Still, once it appears the infection is gone, we usually stop the iodoform tape and switch to a plain gauze (or hydrogel) packing material.
The more we learn about wounds, the more we learn that our best treatment is often as little treatment as possible. Keep it clean, keep the wound bed moist and the skin around it dry, and don’t scratch!
will the betadine kill the mold in one treatment or are multiple treatments necessary? I have already tried alcohol, peroxide, and vinegar and they didnt work
You need repeated treatments.
how often should I apply it?