Preoperative administration of Lugols solution decreases intraoperative blood loss during thyroidectomy in patients with Graves disease. However, it appears ineffective in patients who are already euthyroid on anti-thyroid drugs and levothyroxine.
* During colposcopy, Lugols iodine is applied to the vagina and cervix. Normal vaginal tissue stains brown due to its high glycogen content, while tissue suspicious for cancer does not stain, and thus appears pale compared to the surrounding tissue. Biopsy of suspicious tissue can then be performed. This is called a Schillers test.
* Patients at high risk of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma are usually followed using a combination of Lugol’s chromoendoscopy and narrow-band imaging. With Lugol’s iodine, low-grade dysplasia appears as an unstained or weakly stained area; high-grade dysplasia is consistently unstained.
* Lugol's iodine may also be used to better visualize the mucogingival junction in the mouth. Similar to the method of staining mentioned above regarding a colposcopy, alveolar mucosa has a high glycogen content that gives a positive iodine reaction vs. the keratinized gingiva.
* Lugol's iodine may also be used as an oxidizing germicide, however it is somewhat undesirable in that it may lead to scarring and discolors the skin temporarily. One way to avoid this problem is by using a solution of 70% ethanol to wash off the iodine later.
* Lugols iodine was distributed in Polish Peoples Republic after the Chernobyl catastrophe, due to government not being informed of how severe the event was and overestimating radiation, and unavailability of iodine tablets.