Research has been carried out in an effort to develop a thyroid protection procedure based on the ordinary iodine solutions which are used as disinfectants. Since iodine solutions such as tincture of iodine and povidone-iodine are dangerous poisons if taken orally, these experiments have utilized absorption through the skin after topical application on bare skin.
All reported experimental topical applications on human skin have given less thyroid protection than does proper oral administration of potassium iodide. Moreover, undesirable side effects of skin application can be serious. For these reasons researchers to date have not recommended a procedure for the use of ordinary iodine solutions for thyroid protection