What Is Mercurochrome™?

I am fifty three. My parents had nine kids. Swabbed us all when we had strep or tonsillitis or scrapes. I guess it was the thing to do back then. Doesn't seem anything with mercury could be good, but from what I can see it didn't harm us. So i would not advise using it, but I don't know if it's as horrible as they say.

I play football and at the start of ever season the grounds/ovals are so hard you get many/multiple cuts, scratches, abrasions. The worst of which would be on the knee/s. Not only does it recur every week, as healing takes forever, but larger and more painful every time. Mercurochrome helps. I had a wound 2 inches across on my knee. I cleaned it with metho/peroxide once I got home, then painted it with Mercurochrome. Not only did I re-open the wound over the next 3 games (over 3 weeks ) but I saw it fully healed up with no scarring. I swear by this product.

Love this stuff. We still use it in South Africa. It works super-well.

It's available pretty much everywhere but US, France and Germany. It has never caused mercury poisoning from topical use. Look for Merbromin, and buy it online. Methyl mercury is the bad stuff, found in fish. Merbromin is a disodium compound of mercury and is widely considered safe, just like the stuff in amalgam Fillmore vs, mercury thermometers and switches. Don't listen to the hysterical nuts. Mercurochrome is safe, effective and cheap.

When we were kids there were two bottles in the cabinet: iodine and mercurochrome. All we knew was not to mix them up - one was fire and one wasn't. I don't remember the staining. We also had red throat tablets for sore throats. Worked like a charm. I'm not sure if they are still available. Old brown bottle Listerine was also used as a gargle. Horrible stuff, but it worked.

I live in Australia and a fisherman friend of mine was throwing a one kilogram jar of mercurochrome powder away. He used to use it on the live fish that he caught and kept in huge holding tanks.

He hasn't used it for ten or more years and was throwing it away. Apparently, you can mix it with either water or alcohol or with other aqueous creams to your desired strength, mild being 10 percent. I don't know what to do with it yet. I might put it up for sale online after hearing all the good reviews about it.

I suffered from bleeding piles (fissures) for more than 40 years and during this I had tried various treatments and medicines but with no result. One fine day I have tried Mercurochrome 2 percent solution and applied it externally over my rectal region thrice a day for two days. It worked magically. About a year has already passed now I am completely well. There is occasional bleeding, whereas it was a regular affair when twice a month I used to suffer for two or three days.

I have worked outdoors in a dirty environment with a lot of possible sources of minor cuts and grazes. I also played indoor and outdoor sport hard and was a home handyman throughout that time.

The only quick way to heal a cut or graze other open wound has been one application of Mercurochrome. Any other treatments including those administered in casualty have needed twice daily application, keeping the wound covered, etc., and many times wounds have become infected.

Those wounds treated with Mercurochrome healed most times with no further application and without covering. Usually, they healed quickly and healing was defined by the still red scab falling off.

My parents used it forever. I still use it.

So where can I buy Mercurochrome -- the real stuff?

I remember my parents using both Mercurochrome and Merthiolate for minor cuts. I may be remembering incorrectly, but it seems to me that Mercurochrome did not cause the intense burning sensation when applied to a cut that Merthiolate caused. I think both are no longer available in US. Both caused the deep orange to reddish stain to the skin.

My grandparents used this on my brothers and I when we were growing up in the 80's and 90s and we have zero problems. I also can't remember it stinging- Bactine spray was worse. My grandfather had his old bottle of Hospital brand forever, and when it ran out, another one appeared.

I just went to check after reading that it was banned, and sure enough it is the good old real merbromin. According to him, he got it "down the country" which is our family's way of saying south of Richmond, so apparently you can still find this on some pharmacy shelves in rural Virginia. It's probably stock they figured they'd sell until it ran out!

Yeah I remember the good old "monkey blood" as we called it growing up. Great stuff.

For all those mercury mongers out there, actually, the amount of mercury in it is a mere trace element. You'll get more mercury eating a can of tuna or some sea foods than using mercurochrome externally.

I read a lengthy science article that explained the effectiveness and process of it. It said the trace element in mercury was the key to healing the skin and beating back the infection. There is some type of symbiotic relationship with the skin and the trace element mercury that prevented and reduced bacterial infections. Without the mercury it was about as effective (useless) as any other over-the-counter product.

This is like the FDA banning quinine in the U.S. supposedly because it harmed maybe a few people in it's 300 plus year history - mainly to overdose and extreme reactions. It can now only be prescribed strictly for malaria, with no off label uses.

The real reason? It competes with Big Pharma's newest Restless Syndrome Drugs, for which people took quinine off label for leg cramps. Yet it is liberally found (75 mg/liter) in tonic water on the local grocery shelf. Elsewhere in the world it is over the counter, still the most effective, and cheap. Malaria, oddly, has developed resistance to various synthetic quinine drugs, but overall not to natural quinine.

Mercuroclear is not mercurochrome. It's a different compound (benzalkonium chloride and lidocaine). They devised a brand name to draw in people wanting to replace their mercurochrome when it was pulled off the market in US, Germany and France.

As with the others, it's nothing short of magic for me and my family. It was used so little over the years, I didn't know that, when my 20-year-old bottle breathed its last, it wouldn't be possible to get more.

I work in the medical industry, doctorate and history of dangerous lab chemicals, and trust it implicitly, but not internally. The thumbsucking example was over the top.

Antibiotics may not penetrate or last, and they work only on specific microbe types (not viruses), and lead to resistance. Not mercurochrome.

I had a boil and used this. Within two days, it was half the size and disappearing. I bought it at Walgreens and it was colorless. It cost a bit more, but they carried both, dark red and colorless. I might add that I get nicked and cut in the kitchen and because of diabetes, it doesn't want to heal. But it does and quickly after applying this a few time. I love it.

I still use it, and it works great, with no side effects.

Does anyone know where you can still order the original mercurochrome?

The people saying they wish they could still use it, even though they now know it contains mercury, have clearly been brain damaged by previous use of the product. Mercury is so toxic. A friend's bright and bubbly son got incredibly ill and dull after vaccinations containing mercury and still has an elongated pupil to this day 25 years later. He also struggled academically.

Some people can handle mercury better than others, but it is extremely toxic. Anyone in their right mind would avoid it at all costs.

@ post36: Amazon has Neosporin ointment. Amazon has everything!

My mom would spread that onto my open cuts when I was a kid. She never diluted it -- just put it on straight from the bottle.

I still have a bottle and still use it once in a while. I work with acutely and insidiously dangerous chemicals in the lab every day, so I'm not going to worry about mercurochrome. Great stuff!

Mercury is toxic, in sufficient quantities. Hellm too much of anything is a bad thing. I have used mercurochrome judiciously since childhood and I've had only good results. Nobody is forcing anybody to use it, but don't step on my rights to make my own choice about what is or isn't good for me. You don't have that right; I do! Make your own choices for yourself, and I will do the same for myself.

The shelf life of mercurochrome is nearly infinite, as long as it doesn't dry out. It's a highly stable compound that doesn't decay or lose effectiveness over time. You can add water/alcohol to reconstitute it to it's original consistency if it gets too thick.

It was the best stuff in the world. My cousin has diabetes and had a sore that would not heal. I put some on a bandage and covered the sore. The following day the sore had shrunk to the size of a dime! Wish they still made it.

My mom still has her bottle in the medicine cabinet after 40 years. Of course, she doesn't use it, but it's still in there for sentimental reasons.

The government takes away all the great stuff and won't let consumers choose for themselves? Cigarettes? Liquor? Duh! Maybe you should let them and put a warning label on it so when you get up in age you won't sue them for not telling them?

Just had a melanoma removed from my knee. The area kept breaking open, even with stitches. The topical neosporin was not sufficient to prevent the redness and swelling. Finally, I found Mercuroclear on the Rite Aid shelf.

This same day the surrounding skin is much less red, a scab has formed and the wound has started to itch. This is a good sign.

I truly believe that the product works so well that product sales were too slow for the manufacturers to make great sums of money.

I don't know if this had anything to do with it at all. I was a thumb-sucker and my mother put mercurochrome on my thumb to keep me from putting it in my mouth. But I did anyway. I have had two bouts with oral cancer (on my tongue) in the last few years. It started with a bump under my tongue. The last one was on the side of my tongue and I also had to have radiation.

Two surgeries and radiation and I am still having problems with my mouth. Who knows? It just hit me this morning in my thoughts --however, you think of everything when you have cancer.

Well, I'm 16 but that stuff is amazing. I've had it since I was small. Pity you guys in Stateside can't get it.

Growing up here in Missouri we were very poor. My father who raised me did the best he could. Health care was often the application of home remedies that his parents and their parents before them had relied upon. People may be shocked by this but, as a child, my father would use a long wood Q-tip (used for cleaning the heads on 8-track players, etc.) and paint the white blisters in my throat (step throat) with Mercurochrome. He would make me pant to dry the throat, paint, then pant until the medicine dried and send me to bed without anything to drink. Overnight, I was cured and heading to school the next morning. Magic stuff. I've never had any issues stemming from its use. Wish I had some now.

Funny how it's OK to administer vaccines with Thimerosal, and how even "silver" amalgams are readily available in dentistry, but Mercurochrome is banned because of mercury content. Absolutely no hypocrisy there.

Yes, I too remember mercurochrome not stinging, but iodine sure did.

I used to use it a lot when I was a kid. Oddly enough, I don't recall it stinging. I do recall iodine stung.

What about methiolate? Does anyone know about this liquid? We used it for sore throats. My Mother would swab my throat, and after a few swabs the sore throat would go away. I wonder if it is still available? If anyone knows, make a comment.

Anon wrote: "So much for your "progress". The FDA just like the EPA is corrupted by politicians and money. It is obvious that the FDA does not serve the people of America but rather big business!"

Just what are you talking about? The FDA has not banned this product. You can still buy it in the USA. But not many make it anymore, because most *sane* people are not going to use a mercury when there are so many other treatments that work just as well - *without* a brain-damaging ingredient.

You can still buy this product in Boise, Idaho. Apparently there are quite a few people up there who still want to use things that mess with your brain cells. And we know what Idaho is becoming known for.

As a paramedic, I saw mercurochrome being used on a child's face. She had a reaction to the substance which left a very big mark on her face. They are now considering plastic surgery to remove the stain but she will still be left with scarring. If this was your daughter's beautiful face, I think you would think twice before you applied Mercurochrome. --Joe

I am under 30, but grew up with mercurochrome in my house. It works amazingly well on boils and ingrown hairs. Put on a dab of mercurochrome and a band aid, and the next day the pain is gone and the boil is going down, and in two days and all you're left with is a little orange stain. I love this stuff and wish I could buy it for myself now.

I remember my mother swabbing mercurochrome on my cuts when I was a kid in the 60s and early 70s, and I remember I hated it at the time because it had a much bigger sting than other wound cleansers like hydrogen peroxide or Bactine. I thought the red stain was pretty cool, but the sting was almost too painful to take.

Mercurochrome was one of those childhood medications, along with Vicks VapoRub and campho phenique, that didn't play. If you had any kind of infection around a cut or scrape, you knew how bad it was. I was an adult by the time they took it off the market in the US, and by then I had found other types of wound cleansers that were far less painful.

First of all Mercurochrome works much much better than any of today's topical treatments. So much for YOUR "progress". The FDA just like the EPA is corrupted by politicians and money. The government is the big lie that no one tells you about.

Old time discoveries and products are mostly effective and safe. There are cures for many things, but the government needs people to continue to be treated of their symptoms and NOT cured of their ailments. It is all about money my friends. The sooner you realize, the sooner Americans can correct the lies and mistakes.

Don't forget R12 (freon), CFC's, etc. All safe, just victims of government!

i have been nursing a small bottle of this magic concoction for 15 years

I'm a tennis player and a couple of times a year (usually after a layoff), I will go through a period of time dealing with blisters

Mercurochrome is priceless; blisters that can take four to five days to dry and toughen up without are ready to go the next morning if need be and after 24 hours are minimally noticeable with this stuff.

I don't bother using it for anything other than a blister because I only have 1/8th of a bottle left and I'm getting antsy.

I wonder if they sell this in Tijuana (the closest access to non-FDA goods).

This product is a good product. I have lived in Europe for years, it is used here abundantly. It is also used in Cuba, South America, China and elsewhere. The FDA is wrong.

Mercurochrome is, on paper, an antiseptic, but one thing that many people do not realize is that antiseptics are not the best treatment for healing wounds. Sound ironic?

Well, if you look at most products today which are classed as antiseptic,s they usually contain a serious toxic element in them which will prevent bacterial growth and colonisation. However, what is not apparent is that these toxic elements like silver, iodine and mupiric acids are toxic to your living tissue and do not at all facilitate wound healing and generally dry the wound.

New trends in wound healing are more in line with facilitating the body's own healing properties, which include providing moisture and energy, as well as providing a non toxic anti-microbial and a means to eliminate dead, non-viable tissue which also retards wound healing.

Try Mebo and see how by facilitating the body's systems you can see minimal scarring, less pain and faster healing.

To #36: Silver is what you want. Here in Canada, amputees have their limbs packed in silver. Your body will not build an immunity to it and no infection will get past the packing. I would suggest finding a place that deals with homeopathic medicines (medicines are found naturally, drugs are made by pharmaceutical companies).

To #41, that statement shows your intellect. What you are saying is that we shouldn't drink water because it is made up of explosives. Hydrogen fuels the space shuttle and you can't have a fire without oxygen.

Also, fluorine and fluoride are two separate elements with sodium fluoride being found in toothpaste. Do your homework.

I am pleased to find such an aware group with genuine concerns for health. I would venture that people in this group would be very interested in investigating ORMUS. I have been most amazed with this stuff and you can learn to make it at home. I believe it will lead to the rewriting of many medical books.

To number 36: I get my sister in South Africa to send me Mercurochrome. Fantastic stuff!

Even friends in the UK who have used it cannot believe how good the stuff is.

To number 18: Poor baby! I get approx two big cold sores each year which generally heal but give me a second cold sore before it all goes away till the next time.

I keep mine as dry as possible! Always! I even use the hair dryer on cool to dry it out. I have a cream type ointment that I put on almost every 30 minutes and then damp the thing dry with a cotton material -- something like a hanky. The main thing is keep it dry.

I have now found clear patches that you put on when you have dried the cold sore, that seals it, not allowing it to weep! Very good stuff! My sister has found the same in South Africa as recently as two weeks ago.

Hope this helps. Cheers. --T.

To person # 40: Sodium is poison, chlorine is poison, Sodium Chloride is your table salt. Stop having salt. And what about the fluorine in your fluoride toothpaste?

People! The word is derived from "Mercury". It contains mercury, mercury is poison. How simple does it have to be?

It is obvious that the FDA does not serve the people of America but rather big business! Look at the tragedy of aspartame! Never forget that your FDA passed thalidomide! Zapping mercurochrome is their way of forcing you to buy the crap that the modern drug mafia companies want you to buy so they can continue to enjoy their amoral lifestyles!

I found a bottle of Mercurochrome in my medicine cabinet. I was going to dispose of it, but after reading how great this stuff is I think I'll hold on to it!

i have my bottle and I've had it for ever still use it and I'm 47.My 4 kids all use it so that makes me a bad parent?

To the person #35 who asked if there is a shelf life of Mercurochrome, the short answer is yes every drug has a shelf life before it loses it full potency, but I have found that I can still get some benefit from a bottle of Mercurochrome I still have that's probably 15 years old and because some fool took it off the market.

I have had to use it very sparingly and only have about 5ml left so I need to find a supply as I'm allergic to any form of iodine which can kill me. But they don't take that crap off the market or any of the other drugs that really aren't any good for you.

Now to get to my question: Does anyone know where in this world I can still get Mercurochrome as it heals me very well even gashes it dries up and heals a lot faster than most people heal conventional ways?

I forgot to tell you I also can't have any form of sticking plaster on my skin either, not even the so- called non-allergenic. They still rip my skin to pieces.

I also have a very good burn cream that is good for me but has been taken off the market called Neosporin ointment which can take the pain out of a 3rd degree burn in seconds after being put on and within 1/2 an hour has reduced the burnt area to a light pink color and within eight hours there is no sign of ever being burned.

It defies all medical knowledge that it works so well with me but if I use any burn cream I burn and blister and it takes weeks to heal or if I put any water on the burn, it does the same.

Apparently there is nothing known to man that can make me heal that quick in the ointment there are a couple of steroids and apparently a trace element of silver. Maybe it's the silver that works for me, I have no idea, just that these things work for me and always have. I found a replacement for my Neosporin the other day called Kenacomb Ointment also Viaderm-K-C Cream also both work on me but I'd really like to get my hands on some Mercurochrome for cuts,gashes and wounds. Can someone please help with the location of a supplier.

Cheers, Eddy

is there a shelf life on Mercurochrome?

I am an Australian born 1957 and we grew up with it in my family. It is a magical thing because it not only stops infections apparently instantly, it takes all the pain that come the next day with anything from knuckle scrapes to major cuts. I would put it on the surface of any stitched wound whatever any doctor says.

No scars ever from small things and I am sure it minimizes scarring on major wounds, apparently by stopping infections. I got really mad when they stopped it in Australia, bought a few bottles that I found in chemists (most young ones have no idea and practically threw it at me) but now you can buy it online in Australia (and my wife, who is a total convert and uses it on all our kids, despite not having it in her family when she was young) reckons that she has seen it on a chemist's shelves lately.

I suspect that older chemists are sneaking it in, and there is I'd say little enforcement of the ban. It still costs hardly anything which is why it's banned I am almost sure - there is no money in it for drug companies (I assume that any patent on it has lapsed).

Mercury makes humans insane, taken internally or absorbed through the skin.

i had posted #30. i found mercurochrome online and have ordered it today. check it out! hopefully it it the same, as i have ordered 10 bottles.

my mother used this product on every cut and scrape we had as kids in the 50's and also swabbed our throats when they got sore. worked like a charm. the fastest way to cure a sore throat.

i had been using it right up until last week when my supply ran out. now it's banned? ridiculous! a product that actually works and the government doesn't believe in the people's right to choose their own medications. remember tannic acid spray for burns? try and find that one too!

Thank god Mercurochrome is freely available OTC in calcutta(India). I tried betadine, neosporin, savlon, cetrimide-cream, etc., etc., and nothing heals as quickly, painlessly, scarless and cheaply and nicely. It works on cuts, burns, mouth ulcers, blisters, insect bites, animal bites, bruises and skin infections.

I have my local pharmacy make me a 4 percent alcohol tincture (stings) and a 2 percent aqueous solution (cool and soothing). Often I use the 2 percent for mouth ulcers/cuts or dental problems.

I'm 39 now and have no problems. I keep a tiny vial of it in my bike's first-aid box too.

Had I known they were going to take this off the market I would have bought every bottle I could get my hands on. Since I put out the word I was looking for some a friend found a bottle in her grandmother's house. Almost feel like putting it under lock and key.

The way it took the soreness out of canker sores and fever blisters was close to magic. My grown kids know where to come for relief of soreness and pain.

They tell us Mercury is bad in Mercurochrome, but good in Thiomersal. I guess it just depends on who is paying for the research

what happens if your kid accidentally drinks a little mercurochrome? what should i do?

My Grandma used it on all of us grandkids. If there was a scrape she had it out. It was in her medicine cabinet until the day she died in 1998. Never hurt any of us.

The FDA banned it. Well, when something works but big pharma cannot get to make millions out of it, get the FDA to assist. It's amazing how they OK so many other toxic/big buck making products. What cost will it take to have it reinstated now?

I grew up with the use of mercurochrome 56 years.

I just get some from vietman.most of the farmasi in vietnam have Mercurochrome.

You can buy cigarettes. But not mercurochrome. Genius.

I grew up in South Africa and we used it for everything. It rocks! Stains everything, but clears out germs like a beauty.

i remember using it many years ago. I found some in a bottle by accident. I have used it for cuts and bruises and very good success. I just ran out of it. I found someone on the internet who sells it.

The FDA and the government can forget it. I am 55 years old and have used it since I was four years old. So did all my cousins and brother.

I have been looking for over a year for the stuff, because I ran out after years of using it on my children. My husband went through a bottle every couple months just by himself alone!

When will consumers ever have a say-so about products and when will anyone start listening?

I guess I will have to call Hong Kong and have it delivered!

i live in south africa and my baby has had the flu. now she has a cold sore on her upper lip, her nose is always running and the scar remains wet all the time and seems to be getting bigger too.

We still have the product from our chemist and i want to use it on her, but will it really help since her nose is always running? what should i do? mother in distress.

They banned it until more research can be done. I haven't ever used it. I was reading and came across this word and tried to look it up in two different dictionaries before I turned to the internet.

But from what I have read, there has been more good than harm been posted, so why can't it have a warning label like other drugs used today?

I think people of America should be able to make some of our own decisions about our health!

Its very simple really - it does not make enough money for someone. It's an inexpensive and efficient product, lasts long and does the job. Of course it's off the market. No money to be made on this one.

The FDA are thieves and crooks and are murderers wearing masks. They are slowly trying to poison the entire US with their so called "vaccines" that nobody needs. They use scare tactics to kill everyone slowly.

This product is the only known antiseptic that works as a charm on any wound and heals it fast. Its expected that FDA would ban it under some excuse. How does the FDA benefit if you heal fast? The manufacturer didn't have the money to prove that this product is safe as the burden of proof fell on them.

Mercury is poisonous in free form. Not in Merbromin. There is more mercury in tuna. It's a shame on us that we still trust these murderers.

I also frequently had tonsillitis as a child and my mother swabbed my throat with undiluted Mercurochrome. (She'd swear now that I'm making this up!)

I don't know if there is a correlation, but I had hormone problems all my life. In order to have a child, I went through in vitro fertilization. Thank God, that worked! Someday I'll remember to bring this up with my doctor. To date, no signs of cancer.

When I was a kid back in the late 50's and early 60's I used to get tonsillitis a lot, and my parents would mix mercurochrome with water put it in an atomizer and spray my tonsils with it. I now have cancer. I don't think it was meant to be used internally. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Wow, mercurochome is one of the best products around. I have used it and will continue to for the past 50 years. Recently, it was the only product that healed a wound within two days.

I acquired a third degree burn on the inside of my thigh, and applied a combination of mercurochrome and aloe from the plant twice a day and it healed quickly and without a trace of a scar.

I'm a believer in mercurochrome and have been for 50 years.

Mu mother in law used it on her fish when they got fin sores or fin fungus. Worked really well on them as well as us kids when we scraped a knee. Nothing has ever happened to any of us and of course the tropical fish don't live that long, so can't say there, but I do know that she never served her fish for dinner.

It was probably a good idea to ban this stuff. Even though it may not cause acute mercury poisoning, heavy metals can have insidious long term effects which are difficult to detect. For example, they can slowly cause decline in brain function and IQ. Plus there are tons of other definitely safe antiseptics around. Finally, Mercury accumulates in the environment. Mercurochrome may not harm you when you use it as an antibiotic, but when it makes it into the ecosystem and you end up eating it in your fish, it can be much more dangerous.

Back in 2000 I had stitches on my ankle that kept coming open. The doctor told me to use mercurochrome to close the wound and it worked. I'm now waiting for test results on an infection on my face and am going to go get it out and use it. I stocked up on it in the drug stores that still carried it in 2000.

My grandmother used this product herself for as long as I can remember and on all of us of course. She lived to 92 and died of heart failure (not cancer or mercury poisoning etc.). I know there are exceptions to every rule, but the stuff did work great and my mother swears by it.

wait, so is mercurochrome illegal or banned in the united states? because seriously, i'm just a teen and my mom put some of this stuff on a really bad blisters and hey, seriously, this stuff freaking works!!

And also, they sell this stuff in hong kong in really nice 30ml bottles and it doesn't sting!(no alcohol).

why do they have to ban this? it's better than that weird crappy cream that doctors give me.

I still have a little bottle of Mercurochrome and find it very helpful, and better than antibiotic cream. It does take the soreness out and that is probably due to its anti-inflammatory properties.

Wow! why do they ban all the products that work. The old saying keep them sick and keep them coming back. There is nothing wrong with the product mercurochrome. it's a great product.

Their is no reason to ban this product. I've used it for 70 years, and it does wonders. AUFE

I have had a type of mosquito bites all over the back of my legs for two weeks now. they itched so bad and turned into welts and were holding toxins in little blister forms. The only thing that started to heal these bites and relieve itching was epsom salts baths, applying vinegar/hydrogen peroxide, and finally, the mercurochrome was drawing the toxins out after only one-two uses. the lesions are now healing.

The great thing about Mercurochrome is that it took the soreness out of an injury. Too bad it's off the market.