Your doctor can order an iodine deficiency test, but a more economical option is to perform an at-home skin test (also sometimes called a “patch test”). The test is crude, but it provides a useful measure of your iodine status.
How to do it:
• Before bed, use a tincture of iodine (the orange variety) to paint a 3-inch square patch on the inside of your forearm, the inside of a thigh, or your abdomen.
• The next morning, inspect the painted area. If all the color remains, then your iodine level is adequate. If all the color is gone, then you definitely have an iodine deficiency. Varying degrees of color loss correspond to your degree of iodine deficiency.
• You can repeat the test in a month or so after supplementing with iodine to see how you’re doing.
*A note of caution: An iodine tincture and iodine supplements are two very different things. You must not take the iodine tincture used for the test internally. It’s poisonous.
