Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Retro-Wednesday......







Remember Iodine..?
No, NOT Little Iodine!
The stuff that STUNG like a MoFo when your Mom applied it to a cut or bruise.
"Back in the day" before Neosporin, this is what every household in America used to stave off infection. If you were lucky, your Mom may have had some Methiolade or Mercurochrome on hand, it did the trick, but wasn't as poisonous and didn't sting half as much. As you can see, The G-Man still has a couple of bottles on hand!!
I tilted the one bottle on it's side, so that you can still see the glass tube inside that was attached to the handle... that acted as an applicator.
The next best less painful antiseptic was Bactine, but that came along well after Iodine. All I can say is, kids today don't know how lucky they have it.

Peace...!!!

22 comments:

lime said...

yahtzee!

lime said...

oh man, i remember it all. iodine tincture of merthiolate, bactine, rubbing alcohol. these days i am all about peroxide. it's cheap, doesn't stain, and it does the job.

jillie said...

OH MAN..do I ever remember that crap and OUCHIE OUCHIE OUCHIE...LOL

Love the old bottles. I have a bunch of bottles in my kitchen lining the top of the cupboards.

Happy Hump Day to ya!

Serena said...

Oooo, I remember those stingy things. I'm with Lime on the wonders of peroxide. It fizzes, but it doesn't add insult to injury. You know, those old bottles are probably collectors' items and worth a few bucks.:)

Lulda Casadaga said...

Can you still buy this stuff? :D
I remember that smell...ooowweee...when applied!!
thanks for the ouchy memories! :P

Mona said...

What a coincidence! I was thinking about tincture Iodine solution today! We still have it in India and still use it for abrasions and cuts. Also the mercurochrome solution is still very much in use in India, And boy! are they effective!

I burned my hand badly couple of days ago as some burning polyester cloth fell on it and got stuck to the skin! I thought about tincture Iodine , but I think it is not to be applied on burns. :(

Cazzie!!! said...

LOL, I remember in 4th grade I grazed both my knees and ended up at the sick bay at Primary School. The teacher on first aid duty was one of the coolest teachers. He cleansed my knees and then proceeded to paint them in mercurochrome.... but, what did he do? He painted MR MEN on them, and it made my tears turn into a smile :)

the walking man said...

Didn't every household living on the egde f Nuclear war have some Iodine on hand to combat radiation sickness?

Oh how you brought out the old cold war knowledge.

Shadow said...

ick! to the contents but LOVE the little bottles!!!

S said...

LOL congrats on a successful rear end exam! LOL

And yes again, Gman pulls out the old stuff. We had iodine. I think methiolade is an easty thing.
But I remember spilling iodine on the bathroom counter and boy, was my dad mad!

:P

Akelamalu said...

Oh kids today don't know they're born! They could never put up with what we had to put up with! LOL

James Goodman said...

Oh... how I hated iodine. I got a shiver just seeing the bottle. Yes, kids don't know how lucky they have it.

JihadGene said...

Oh, I remember that.

buffalodick said...

Remember "Witch Hazel?" I'd rather die of blood loss than have that stuff put on a cut! I was the first kid in the neighborhood to have Bactine... I ran full bore into a rose bush and they mopped me down with Bactine- and it didn't sting!

Maude Lynn said...

Now I can see the glass tube!

One Prayer Girl said...

Oh, I remember iodine all right.

That "sting" is something that is hard to forget.

Our age is showing! :)

PG

Anonymous said...

I'm thankful I wasn't born after the iodine craze, but I remember both mercurochrome and mertholate stinging like crazy. Hated the stuff. A s for them being less poisonous - you know they both contained mercury, right?

Even peroxide is problematic because it can damage healthy tissue sometimes. Give me soap and water, mostly water.

Anonymous said...

I mean, I'm thankful I WAS born after iodine!

Also, I'll add - just because something hurts, doesn't mean it's good for you.

Dr.John said...

I hated iodine. My mother used it on ever cut I ever had. She didn't think Mercurochrome was strong enough. To cure it had to burn.

snowelf said...

I was lucky...bactine baby!

Did you know if you are low on iodine, you are supposed to rub it on the inside of your thigh until it stops absorbing and makes a stain instead. My mom taught me that. :) Yea, that's right G-man... my mama taught me about rubbing things on the inside of my thighs. hehehe! :P

--snow

Ghost Dansing said...

iodine.....

GAB said...

Oh god yes how I remember Iodine! I suppose because I fell off my bike so often that it is what I remember most. Im just glad mom didnt use any when I amost cut my whole heel of my right foot off. As it was she used flour and wrapped it with a kitchen towl. Then pput more flour on top of towel. It took awhile for the bleeding to stop and even longer for my heel to grow back together. It is still crooked. and you can still see part of the scar.