How injectable glutathione is given, from the record: no FDA label, the routes trials and compounders state, why volume decides the route, and the outbreak.
"How to inject glutathione" has a different answer from almost every other injection question on this site, because glutathione is dosed in hundreds of milligrams rather than micrograms. The volume that carries the amount decides the route before anything else does. This page sets out what the record states, by source: the absent label, the compounded product, the trials and the vendor pages. It then works the volumes and reports the 2026 outbreak that the CDC tied to injectable glutathione. It describes; it recommends no route, site or amount.
The dose figures, each with its source and date, are on the glutathione dosage page; the water and concentration arithmetic for the 200 mg to 2,000 mg vials is on the glutathione reconstitution page. The compound is covered in Medibact's Glutathione guide.
What the record holds, by source
| Source |
Routes stated |
Amounts stated |
| FDA label |
none: no glutathione injection is approved (Drugs@FDA, read 2026-10-15) |
— |
| Compounded product page (Empower Pharmacy, read 2026-10-15) |
intravenous or intramuscular, by a healthcare professional |
200 mg/mL, 30 mL vials; dosage left to the prescriber |
| Registered and published trials |
intravenous; one registered mesotherapy trial |
600 mg to 2,500 mg per session |
| Vendor protocol pages (as recorded on this site's dosage page, 2026-09-18) |
subcutaneous, intramuscular, intravenous |
100–200 mg SC daily; 600 mg IM; 600–2,400 mg IV |
The only Drugs@FDA product found with glutathione in it is BSS PLUS, Alcon's intraocular irrigating solution (NDA 018469), which contains the oxidised form and is used in eye surgery. Everything injectable is compounded or sold for research. Glutathione is not on the FDA's list of bulk substances that may present significant safety risks in compounding (content current 2026-04-22, read 2026-10-15); the list's absence of a name is not an approval.
The volume decides the route
At the compounded concentration of 200 mg/mL, the amounts in circulation translate into these volumes:
| Amount |
Volume at 200 mg/mL |
On a U-100 syringe |
Volume at 300 mg/mL |
| 100 mg |
0.5 mL |
50 units |
0.33 mL (33 units) |
| 200 mg |
1 mL |
100 units |
0.67 mL (67 units) |
| 600 mg |
3 mL |
3 full syringes |
2 mL |
| 1,400 mg |
7 mL |
— |
4.67 mL |
| 2,500 mg |
12.5 mL |
— |
8.33 mL |
The 300 mg/mL column is a 600 mg research vial mixed with 2 mL, the arithmetic vendor pages use, at which one unit holds 3 mg. Only the subcutaneous figures of 100 to 200 mg fit an insulin syringe at all; the intramuscular 600 mg is a 2 to 3 mL injection, and the intravenous figures are infusion volumes. This is the reason the trials and the compounded product speak of veins and muscle: a peptide dosed in micrograms is a few hundredths of a millilitre, and glutathione at the same scale of syringe would need dozens of them. The method behind the table is on mg to mL.
How the trials gave it
Every glutathione trial with an outcome read for this site gave it intravenously. The pneumonia trial registered as NCT06296212 gives 600 mg of glutathione (as 646 mg of the sodium salt) in 50 mL of saline twice daily for five days; the Parkinson's trial of Hauser and colleagues (Movement Disorders 2009, 21 patients) gave 1,400 mg three times a week for four weeks; the angioplasty trials of Tanzilli and colleagues gave 2,500 mg before the procedure and at 24, 48 and 72 hours (all as recorded on the dosage page, 2026-09-18). None used a subcutaneous route.
The one registered trial of a skin route is NCT07263841 (King Edward Medical University, Pakistan, 60 participants estimated, started 2025-06-01, listed active and not recruiting on 2026-10-15). It treats post-burn facial hyperpigmentation by mesotherapy, small injections into the skin, with glutathione on one half of the face and tranexamic acid on the other. Its record names no glutathione amount and has posted no results.
The skin-lightening use, as the reviews report it
Intravenous glutathione is widely sold for skin lightening, and the published record on that use is thin. A 2016 review found no study of intravenous glutathione for skin lightening at all, and no study of its safety in chronic use for any indication; the trials it found were a few intravenous doses or 4 to 12 weeks (Davids et al., South African Medical Journal 2016, PMID 27499402). A 2018 review states the intravenous evidence was limited to a single study (Sonthalia et al., Dermatology Practical & Conceptual 2018, PMID 29445569), and a 2016 review by the same lead author reports that the Philippines' food and drug regulator issued a public warning against off-label uses such as skin lightening (PMID 27088927). A 2026 narrative review describes the available evidence as limited and the pigment changes as modest and varied (Aloraini et al., Journal of Medicine and Life 2026, PMID 42751591). The oral and topical trials these reviews count are not injection data and are covered on the dosage page.
The 2026 outbreak and a case report
The CDC's current-situation page on adverse events linked to injectable glutathione (dated 2026-09-15, as read for this site's dosage page on 2026-09-18) reported more than 25 people ill in at least four states after compounded glutathione made with a dietary-supplement-grade ingredient. At least three were hospitalised, all three after intravenous use, with fever, chills, low blood pressure and shock consistent with endotoxin exposure. The page could not be re-opened unattended on 2026-10-15 (the site refused automated requests), so these figures carry their September read date; later updates are not reflected here. Separately, a 2025 case report from a UK intensive care unit describes systemic inflammatory response syndrome, with a temperature above 41°C and collapse within an hour, after a high-dose unregulated glutathione infusion given for skin lightening; the authors suggest endotoxin contamination or an interaction with the patient's very low food intake (Sharma et al., Cureus 2025, PMID 40556995). Both reports concern intravenous products; no comparable report for intramuscular or subcutaneous injection was found for this page.
What is not established
No regulator has approved a glutathione injection, so no label states a route, site or amount. No trial read for this page tested subcutaneous or intramuscular glutathione against an outcome. No study has established the safety of repeated intravenous glutathione for cosmetic use. A research vial's purity and endotoxin content are not on its label, and the outbreak above was traced to the ingredient's grade, not to the route. Decisions about whether and how glutathione is given belong with a prescriber.
Sources and dates
Opened 2026-10-15: Drugs@FDA through openFDA for glutathione (BSS PLUS, NDA 018469); Empower Pharmacy's glutathione injection page; the FDA page on bulk drug substances that may present significant safety risks (content current 2026-04-22); the ClinicalTrials.gov v2 search for glutathione injection (47 records) and the record for NCT07263841; PubMed abstracts through NCBI E-utilities for PMIDs 42751591, 40556995, 29445569, 27499402 and 27088927. The CDC page (refused on 2026-10-15), the trial doses for NCT06296212, Hauser 2009 and Tanzilli 2019/2021, and the vendor figures are as read and cited on this site's glutathione dosage page (2026-09-18). Volume and unit arithmetic by this site. Corrections go to the contact page.
