The horror that is Merthiolate

I have vivid memories of the almost unbearable burning sensation of the antiseptic merthiolate on my scraped knees, stubbed toes and cut fingers. The orange, acid-like liquid stung so much, my brothers and I would avoid showing our mother small injuries. When she decided we needed the treatment, she went to the medicine cabinet, retrieved the tiny brown glass bottle with the red and white label that read Tincture of Merthiolate. At that point, we knew what was coming and we were trying to hide behind furniture or disappear into walls. She would chase us down and then she would have to hold the afflicted limb in place and daub the evil potion on the wound with the glass wand attached to the bottle cap. During the chase we would be wailing in anticipation of impending pain and after the application we were screaming because of the actual pain we were experiencing. When it was all over the wound and surrounding skin were the color of an electric orange.

When friends of my mother's would witness these dramatic spectacles, they would suggest less stressful alternatives. The first was mecurachrome, which was a cousin of merthiolate, but it did not cause excrutiating pain when applied to an open wound and it left a more reddish stain on the skin. The second was Bactine. My brothers and I thought that the paradigm shifter was Bactine; no red or orange stain and absolutely no pain; only a cold wet sensation. Bactine came out of a large white plastic bottle, not a brown glass vial. It was an antiseptic spray, not a ominous sounding tincture. Bactine was modern, space age, civilized, not old fashioned, victorian and cruel. But my mother was having none of it, she dismissed both. She was firm believer in no pain, no gain, way before the phrase had been culturally articulated. This was the same woman who raised us on Dial bar soap, bcause it was antibacterial. I was 17 before I realized that bar soap could provide a skin soothing, instead of parchment drying, experience.

Tonight I did a google search for merthiolate and found out that the FDA banned it and mercuachrome in the late 90s becaase of the mercury used to make both mixtures. Besides the fact that mercury is bad for humans in general, it also retards healing. I want to call my mother, get her out of bed and ask her, "Gee, did you know that you were slowly poisoning us?"

I was surprised at the number of people who had blog entries and comments on the pain and suffering they experienced due to parental application of merthiolate. All of the posters were in their 40s, 50s and older. You might think that after so many years have passed, we would have recovered or at least forgotten these episodes.