Gentian Violet: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Gentian Violet is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Available as
- Suppository
- Sold as
- Gvs
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Yes
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $0.05 per ml — not your price
Every gentian violet product we track (1)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
Only one: Gvs.
Gentian Violet and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for gentian violet: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadGentian violet (crystal violet) was used in the past to treat oral and nipple thrush during breastfeeding. Gentian violet is potentially toxic to the mucous membranes, causing oral ulceration with partial airway obstruction in one case, and potentially tattooing the skin. It can also interact with DNA, is carcinogenic and mutagenic in animals, and occasionally causes allergic sensitization, with cross-reactions to other triphenylmethane dyes. Its use has been severely curtailed by authorities in Australia, Canada, England and France. It is also very messy, staining skin and clothing. A 2001 survey of the members of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) found that gentian violet is rarely (1 to 2% of respondents) used by breastfeeding experts for initial treatment of oral thrush and is very infrequently (3 to 4% of respondents) used for recurrent or persistent thrush. ABM guidelines for treating Candida infection of the nipples state that an aqueous solution of gentian violet of less than 0.5% can be used for no more than 7 days on the nipple. However, safer alternatives for treating thrush are available.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised August 15, 2024. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about gentian violet
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 58 reports naming gentian violet, and the FDA flagged 67% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- therapeutic product effect incomplete9 reports
- treatment failure9 reports
- arthralgia8 reports
- arthropathy7 reports
- drug hypersensitivity7 reports
- drug intolerance6 reports
- joint injury6 reports
- c-reactive protein abnormal5 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean gentian violet caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
Can you take gentian violet with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run gentian violet against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What forms does gentian violet come in?
Across the brands we track, gentian violet is currently marketed as suppository, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic gentian violet?
Yes. Our catalog lists 1 generic gentian violet product alongside the brand versions. A generic has the same active ingredient and must meet the FDA's bioequivalence standard; it usually costs less. Ask your pharmacist which one your plan covers.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Gentian Violet: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/gentian-violet
- MLA
- “Gentian Violet: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/gentian-violet.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for gentian violet on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.