Using Super Glue to close wounds.

Today is actually the third time i have heard of this.

People using superglue to close a deep cut through the scin by bonding the scin together.
I even heard of one who was using the stuff to close the cracks in his cracked skin.

In my opinion that is greatly unhealthy.

But to what degree?

Any doctors around?

Anyone know of how dangerous this practice is to health?

It is actually a common practice and as long as it is done on the surface the bonding of skin is not dangerous.
Deep wounds and unsanitary wounds are another story.

Cyanoacrylate, was originally created for military use as an emergency field suture for flesh wounds

It's fine topically for thingslike paper cuts but I wouldnt use it for large scrapes or deep cuts.

A guy I used to work with caught his hand on a fan while working on his car.

The cuts were deep and many.

He poured super glue on his hand.

The cuts kept ripping open and seeping blood. He would re-apply glue every few hours.

This went on for days.

Long story short; he needed surgery to connect muscle and nerve tissue and was on antibiotics for a while.

He was (still is) not a very bright fella.

In the hospital it goes by the name of Derma Bond.

We used to use this when i taught auto shop. It works well on small cuts etc.

"Superglue" was created during Vietnam war to temporarily close wounds on the battlefield. It wasn't called superglue then though, name was changed when adopted into household use.

In my own opinion it doesnt sound too healthy to use superglue to close up a deep wound i would rather be on the safe side and sow a deep wound uop myself if neccesary or the obvious onie go to a doctoir and have a deep cut checked out also wouldnt using something like superglue cause alot of skinirritaion and be somewhat uncomfortable

also it would actually kill some of the skin cells around the wound or around the pklace where the superglue is used because Superglue is made of a substance called cyanoacrylate. When it comes into contact with liquids like water, it forms a plastic mesh that will keep skin, or anything one wants glued, neatly bonded together. However, regular superglue has methyl alcohol, which creates heat in order to produce the bonding effect of superglue. Thus using superglue to close a wound in deep tissue could result in killing some of the surrounding skin cells

Research it VVVV

Using superglue to close a wound is possible, but not advisable. While using over the counter superglue to close a wound would work, it also may produce extreme skin irritation and skin death when purchased in over the counter form. However types of medical superglue are now often used in place of stitches to close certain types of wounds.

www.wisegeek.com...

THE FACTS

Call it the secret life of Super Glue.

During the Vietnam War, emergency medics began using the all-purpose glue to seal battle wounds in troops headed for surgery. The glue was so good at stemming bleeding that it was credited with saving many lives.

Nowadays, professional athletes often close small cuts with Super Glue or similar products to get back in the game in a hurry. The glues are also used by veterinarians, and many people keep a tube around the house to help them out of a medical pinch. It is believed that the glues — made from the chemical cyanoacrylate — not only stop bleeding quickly, but also lead to less scarring.

So should you keep some Super Glue in the medicine cabinet? Probably not, experts say. Studies show that although the glue can be useful in emergencies, it can also irritate the skin, kill cells and cause other side effects, particularly when used on deep wounds.

There is a safer alternative. In 2001, the Food and Drug Administration approved a similar, antibacterial form of the substance called 2-octyl-cyanoacrylate, which is marketed as Dermabond.

www.nytimes.com...

reply to post by badgerprints


ok i may go with that, but please anwet this to me:

How can you keep on the surface when the wound is open really?

And for that matter, what happens to the glue that is trapped inside?

I mean this is no medical glue or anything close to being.

I've never had a problem using it for small cuts. It works quite well keeping the skin together so it can heal and also with the irritating pain of small cuts that just won't heal, like on knuckles and joints like that. Especially on the hands which get used frequently, well, you know how much a paper cut can be a irritant. Those small cuts sometimes cause the lots of pain, go figure.

Too bad I can't use it to fix my tooth that has a large hole and causes me lots of discomfort.

Great post for a great glue. Aside from using it to hang from a steel I-beam glued to my hard hat. I use every Winter to close the superficial cracks that I get in my thumbs and fingers. I always keep fresh tube in the first aid kit.

Use staples to close the deep gashes.

This little gem or a similar one is an essential tool for you BOB.

i've done it for a couple of years now and it works quite well. i usually do not feel pain either after it has instantly healed.

Any doctors around?

reply to post by GEORGETHEGREEK


Veterinarian here.. We used to have a product called Nexaband that came in a small bottle with a small tube applicator. It was called tissue adhesive (2 octyl cyanoacrylate). Pretty close to superglue.

I tried it a couple of times on small wounds and found that it glued the tissue together nice and the bleeding would stop. but it would only last a couple days at best and the wound would be open again. So if you used it, you had to put in a suture also to hold it. So why use it if you had to suture anyway?

I finally took it off the shelf so the young vets wouldn't use it.

I tried it on small hand and finger cuts and it always failed. Dittos for cracked skin.

Inevitably while you were using it you'd get some on your own fingers or gloves and it was a mess.

I know of some doctors in 3rd world countries that tried it. Never heard the results.

BTW a little moisture speeds the bonding process and there is an accelerant available for superglue that doesn't contain water. I use it on vintage radio speakers to repair cracks. The accelerant helps a lot.

I had a very deep cut to my finger (nearly to the bone deep) and went to the hospital emergency room. They glued it together instead of using stitches. There is no visible scar there now. I dont know what type of glue they use. It was about 6 years ago and they said the practise was fairly new.

reply to post by GEORGETHEGREEK



I have heard that the compound was first invented for the closing of wounds.

I am a session musician and I just recently had to spend 50 hours in the studio within three days. The fingers on both my hands split open by the end of the first day.
I remember reading that "FLEA" from the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS would remedy his split fingers with super glue, so I tried it. It worked better than expected, provided new skin and seemed to protect my fingers from further damage. It also seemed to stop the pain I was having... Probably would work good for runners who had awful blisters but had to maintain.

An old western method from the hey day. Use the thin white skin of the inside of an egg. Place that over cut. Let it dry. As the egg skin dries, it pulls together the cut and seals it, forming a natural artificial skin layer and as it dries, it also acts as a glue, a very safe glue to keep the cut closed.

Far better than using super glue you get off the hardware store shelf.




Cheers!!!!

I heard somewhere that indigenous peoples in south america will use ants to close wounds instead of sutures. They will hold an ant over the wound where the skin comes together and let the ants mandibles grip both sides at the same time, then they remove the body and the head stays in place like a staple.
No sticky cap to remove either.

Originally posted by GEORGETHEGREEK
Any doctors around?

Yes. I use Dermabond on small wounds that are not profusely bleeding and do not have tension on them under normal circumstances. Lacerations on the hands, elbows, knees, and face are not usually a good place to use Dermabond. I prefer to use sutures in these areas. Increased tension tends to pull the wound apart. I had a two-year-old little boy come in to my ER last week... he had jumped off his bed and lacerated his penis on a toy. The wound was not deep, and I used Dermabond on the laceration. I would never use sutures in this area. If the cut was too deep... I would send them to a urologist.

It's healthier for you than bleeding to death...

Long-term, I doubt it's good for you, but battlefield medics don't care if you get cancer 20 years down the line, they want to keep you from dying of blood loss before you make it onto a surgery table.

Pressure alone does fine to staunch bleeding from small cuts. The superglue only becomes useful (and necessary), in the case of a large wound with exposed vessels - you can clamp them and very quickly seal them off with the glue, one by one, and preventing massive blood loss.

I suppose you could use it to seal small cuts, scrapes, cracked skin, or whatever else if you wanted to (as mentioned by other members on this thread), but I suspect that does a lot more harm than good.

I keep like five tubes in my go bag, in a tin (along with the rest of the first aid junk) to keep them from getting squashed. Neat thing about superglue is that it's also highly flammable and not water soluble, which means it might come in handy for anything from firecraft to fishing. It's a good multi-purpose thing to have.

FDA approved Histoacryl® Topical Skin Adhesive is the proven choice for wound closure with over 40 years of clinical experience and more than 1000 articles in clinical publications worldwide. Manufactured by B. Braun, Histoacryl® consists of n-Butyl-2 Cyanoacrylate. This sterile, liquid topical skin adhesive is available in two formulations: Histoacryl® and Histoacryl® Blue. Histoacryl® is translucent, and Histoacryl® Blue contains a blue dye in order to make it easier to see the adhesive being applied. Histoacryl® and Histoacryl® Blue polymerize in seconds upon being exposed to water or water containing substances like human tissue. Histoacryl® and Histoacryl® Blue are supplied in 0.5 ml single patient use plastic ampoules. All references to Histoacryl® on this site refer to both Histoacryl® Topical Skin Adhesive and Histoacryl® Blue Topical Skin Adhesive unless stated otherwise.

Hystoacryl

So you are using the specific product, an adhesive called Hystoacry that seals the wound. It is highly likely that using a wound product specifically designed for that purpose is far better than using "super glue."

Originally posted by GEORGETHEGREEK
Today is actually the third time i have heard of this.

People using superglue to close a deep cut through the scin by bonding the scin together.
I even heard of one who was using the stuff to close the cracks in his cracked skin.

In my opinion that is greatly unhealthy.

But to what degree?

Any doctors around?

Anyone know of how dangerous this practice is to health?

this is nothing new.doctors use it in brain surgery as it is non-toxic and turns to inert plastic on contact with water.

i have used it to close wounds on me due to cuts.

i use it to fill cavities in my teeth.

better then paying the crooked dentists who deliberately drill holes in your teeth to generate repeat business.