tincture of iodine tincture of iodine tincture of iodine, iodine tincture, or weak iodine solution is an antiseptic. it is usually 2 to 3% elemental iodine, along with potassium iodide or sodium iodide, dissolved in a mixture of ethanol and water. tincture solutions are characterized by the presence of alcohol. it was used from 1908 in pre-operative skin preparation by italian surgeon antonio grossich. iodine tincturevarious bottles of tincture of iodine from the former soviet unionclinical dataahfs/drugs.commonographpregnancycategory d routes ofadministrationtopicalatcvet codeqd08ag (who) identifiers iupac name diiodane cas number7553-56-2pubchem cid807drugbankdb05382unii9679tc07x4chemical and physical dataformulai2 in the united kingdom, the development of an iodine solution for skin sterilisation was pioneered by lionel stretton. the british medical journal published the detail of his work at kidderminster infirmary in 1909. stretton used a much weaker solution than that used by grossich. he claimed in 1915 that grossich had been using a liquid akin to liquor iodi fortis, and that it was he, stretton, who had introduced the method using tincture of iodine bp which came to be used across the world. usp formulas