Reviewed by Evan Lewis, PhD. Last updated 10 August 2026.
You see the pattern every week. A patient finally asks about their nails, you do beautiful work in the chair, they leave with good intentions, and then they buy something random online and quit it in three weeks. When they come back, nothing has changed except their patience.
This guide is for the foot care nurses, chiropodists and podiatrists who close that gap with IodinePure. It covers how to explain the routine to a patient in seconds, the exact protocol they follow at home, and how it fits alongside everything else in your treatment toolkit, including prescriptions and laser. If your clinic is not a partner yet, the partner program is here.
What is IodinePure, in clinical terms?
Two ingredients: elemental iodine stabilized in pure water. No alcohol carrier, so there is no sting and no staining on skin. It is a Health Canada listed cosmetic available without a prescription, which is exactly why it slots cleanly alongside whatever treatment path you and the patient choose: the daily at-home routine working the nail directly, while you and any prescriber handle the clinical side.
The mechanism your patients will actually understand: creams, paints and drops sit on top of the nail. The soak submerges the toe, carrying the solution under the nail edge and around the nail folds, the places surface products never reach.
How do you explain it chairside in 15 seconds?
Most partner clinics land on some version of this: "I want you on a simple home routine between visits. You soak your toes a few nights a week while you watch TV, and you spray them morning and night. It is two ingredients, iodine and water, it will not sting or stain your skin, and one bottle lasts about a month. I will handle the nail care here. Your job is the routine and a photo every 30 days."
That is the whole pitch. The tray, the schedule and the refills do the rest.
What exactly does the patient do at home?
Seven steps, and none of them take longer than a TV ad break. Fill the spray bottle, pour the soak, soak, repeat every other day, spray twice daily, hold it for 90 days, and come back to you every four to six weeks.
- Fill the 30ml spray bottle. Use the funnel to pour solution from the 500ml bottle. Keep it filled and ready. Tell patients to keep it by their toothbrush so it pairs with a habit they already have.
- Pour the soak amount. 10 to 15ml per section, or enough to fully submerge the big toe nail. If other toes are affected, the same in the other section. The tray is shaped so a small amount of solution does the work of a basin.
- Soak 5 to 7 minutes. Toes placed so the nail area is properly exposed to the solution. Comfort matters for compliance: patients should pull the tray close so their feet rest at an easy angle.
- Repeat the soak 3 to 4 times per week, or simply every other day. Consistency beats intensity.
- Spray twice a day, every day. Morning and night on clean, dry nails. Spraying the insides of shoes and socks keeps the whole foot environment cleaner.
- Stay consistent for the full 90 days. Toenails grow roughly 1.62mm a month (Yaemsiri, JEADV 2010), and the 3mm figure usually quoted is the fingernail rate. Ninety days is therefore about 5mm of new nail at the base, which is what the patient will actually be looking at. A photo every 30 days is how patients see that progress.
- Return for professional care every 4 to 6 weeks. Your thinning and debridement is what the routine is built around: a thinner nail gives the solution less material to work through on its way to where new nail grows, and the nail looks better the same day.
What details protect compliance?
The small ones, mostly. These are the points partner clinics say make the difference between a patient who finishes and a patient who stops at week three.
- One 500ml bottle lasts about 30 days on the full protocol, which is why the complete 90 day bundle ships with two refills.
- The same soak solution covers both feet in one session, then goes down the sink.
- Towel under the tray, and no porous stone countertops. The solution is amber and will not stain skin, but it can mark fabric.
- Cap stays on the bottle, stored at room temperature. Shelf life is three years.
- Encourage the environment half of the routine: fresh socks daily, retire the dead gym shoes, and the general foot hygiene advice you already give.
That last point is the one patients skip, and it is the one with the most literature behind it. A review of shoe and sock sanitisation put recurrence and relapse rates for superficial fungal infections of the feet at 10% to 53%. Laundry is less reliable than patients assume: in one set of experiments, a 40°C wash left dermatophyte spores viable and only 60°C removed them, while freezing and heat drying both failed. And a scoping review of household spread found transmission between household members in 44% to 47% of cases, which is worth a sentence when the rest of the household is barefoot on the same floors.
How does it fit with debridement, laser and ToeFX?
It sits underneath all three rather than competing with any of them. You keep the in-office work and the patient takes the between-visits half.
With debridement: this is the natural pairing. You handle the professional work in the chair, the patient runs the routine the other 700+ hours a month. Patients with homework stay engaged and keep their follow-ups.
With laser packages: a number of our partner clinics no longer sell laser alone. The kit goes into the package as the between-appointments homework. The laser does its work in the office, the routine does its work at home, and patients arrive at the next session still committed to the plan.
With ToeFX: same pattern. The in-office light therapy is yours; the at-home soak and spray is theirs. No conflict between them.
With retail products you already stock: Sole Shield covers daily foot and footwear care, and EZ Clear Skin answers the "what can the rest of the family use" question. Both sit naturally beside the kit on a reception display.
Which patient groups does this routine suit best?
Anyone whose feet spend long hours enclosed, damp or under load. In a normal caseload that comes down to three or four recurring groups.
Dancers. Dancer feet care is its own category, and pointe work sharpens every part of it: bruised and lifting nails, blisters, calluses, and hours inside a damp shoe. Ballet feet care and ballerina feet care searches mostly come from the dancers themselves, while dancers foot care questions in a clinic tend to arrive the week before a show, which is the worst possible week to do anything drastic. What they want is something that fits a schedule already crowded with taping and toe pads, and two sprays plus a soak on non-performance nights does that.
Family caregivers. A good share of your take-home instructions are not being carried out by the patient at all. Caregiver foot care usually means a daughter or a spouse doing the soak, so give the instructions to the person actually doing them, put the schedule in writing, and spend thirty seconds on what a change looks like and when to phone you.
People in boots ten to twelve hours a day. Trades, nursing, kitchens, warehouses. Same problem and the same routine, except the footwear half matters more than the nail half.
Questions your patients will ask, answered
What if they are currently using Jublia?
No conflict. Jublia does its work as the prescription; the routine works the nail directly, with the soak reaching under and around it. The prescriber decides timing, and the sensible default many clinics use is prescription first on dry nails, routine around it. Keep the prescriber in the loop.
What if they are on oral terbinafine (Lamisil)?
The pill works from the inside, the routine works the nail itself, and there is no known conflict between an external iodine routine and oral treatment. The long grow-out is where patients lose patience, and the daily routine carries them through it. Our plain language Lamisil guide is written for patients if you want a handout.
What about mid-laser-package patients?
Ideal candidates. Give them the kit at session one and frame it as their half of the treatment plan. Our laser guide explains the pairing in patient language.
Is it safe for diabetic or high-risk patients?
That is your clinical call, patient by patient, exactly as with any home care you recommend. The formula is gentle, water based and sting free, but high-risk feet belong under professional supervision, so set the soak schedule you are comfortable with.
How long until the patient sees something?
New growth shows at the base in 8 to 12 weeks with consistency. Set the expectation at the first visit: photos every 30 days, judge at 90. A great toenail is 20 to 25mm from base to tip, so at 1.62mm a month a complete grow-out is a 12 to 18 month project, and the 90 days is the part where they can first see it moving. Patients who expect overnight change quit; patients who expect a long project finish it.
What if the patient falls off the routine?
They will, and it is recoverable. The guidance is simple: restart the soaks, keep spraying, do not double up. This is also where the 90 Day Challenge earns its keep, with reminders and structure that keep patients on track without your staff chasing them.
Does this suit military foot care?
The conditions are exactly the ones the routine was built around: boots on for long stretches, shared showers and barracks floors, and very few chances to let anything dry out. Foot care US military guidance and Canadian Forces guidance land on the same basics, which are dry feet, clean socks changed often, and dealing with the boot as well as the foot. A soak is harder in the field than at home, so for a deployed patient the spray half is the realistic part, on the feet and inside the boot.
How do you get stocked?
Three ways, and you pick the one that fits your front desk. Partner clinics choose the model that suits them: QR ordering with zero inventory and commission on every order, or wholesale stock sold in clinic at MSRP, or folded into treatment packages priced your way. Details and the calculator are on the clinic partner page, and our support team handles patient questions, replacements and the 90 day guarantee so your front desk does not have to.
IodinePure is a cosmetic product that supports the appearance of clearer, healthier looking nails and skin. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
