I was going through a period where I thought I had a ongoing fungal infection on my neck like ringworm. I began treating it with Betadine (povidone – iodine), I would put the Betadine on my neck. Let it sit for a few minutes and then rinse it off. The redness which I thought was ringworm would go away the next day. But then would return a couple days later and I would repeat the process. I decided to go to my primary care doctor who wasn’t sure what it was. And after doing the betadine treatment for about a year I went to a dermatologist who said I had psoriasis and gave me a steroid cream called clobetasol. This got rid of it just as well as the Betadine. Which makes me wonder if iodine, which is the active ingredient Betadine or the povidone in Betadine has an anti-inflammatory effect because it got rid of my psoriasis almost as good as a powerful steroid.
No, povidone-iodine is only a topical antiseptic. It kills cells by iodination of lipids and oxidation of components of the cytoplasm and cell membrane.
It harms mammalian cells less because of its slow release of iodine.
Strange, as it doesn’t penetrate to the dermis, so it couldn’t have oxidized any inflammatory elements in the skin. The same is true of antibodies.
Obviously it is a topical antiseptic. I wonder if it has yet unstudied anti- inflammatory effects.