MERBROMIN

first of a series of antiseptics in which mercury was incorporated into an organic molecule in an attempt to obtain the antibacterial action of mercury without the irritant effects of mercuric chloride. Commonly marketed as Mercurochrome, merbromin is applied to small cuts and abrasions to prevent infection; it stains surrounding tissue a brilliant red tinged with a yellow-green fluorescence. It is only a weak antiseptic and has been displaced in medical practice by the more effective agents of the series, nitromersol (Metaphen) and thimerosal (Merthiolate), and by antibiotics.