Superglue in the 1st Aid Box, Any truth to it?

True, I've been gluing up the cracks I get in the corners of my fingers especially in winter due to using hand cleaners and having dirty hands for years. The cracks usually hurt like blazes, a dab of glue and they soon heal underneath.
People use it on cracked heels too. I've also used it on a knife cut instead of stitches.
They use a medical grade to glue up women (peritineum sp?) who suffer tears when giving birth too.

I alsao have heard it is used for surgery etc. Scary if it's correct hey ??

There is a spray pack especially for cuts & abrasions.
It coats the skin with a rubbery like membrane & keeps the wound clean until healed.

It's an old trick to stop head bleeds during sporting events, real quick turn around.

The term 'superglue' is not actually talking about the commercially available version. One of the kids at school cut themselves a few weeks ago and the nurse was explaining that harm can actually be done by using shop bought superglue. Might be better than nothing in a real emergency but only if there is not much other option.
Cheers
Ray

Slammiin when my son was young he split his chin open on the bull bar of the 4x4 we took him to the hospital and they glued the wound.
From memory it was blue like the plumbers glue but it wasnt plumbers glue.
It would be good to find out the rite stuff.

All the best
Eric

As a medico,

There is some stuff that is used in emergency departments to glue SMALL wounds back together. It is colloquially refered to as "SuperGlue" when describing it to patients. To the best of my knowledge it is not superglue at all, but something "medical" and thus far more expensive.

As it is "medical" I doubt it would be available to the general public, but have never heard of anyone trying to get it for their first aid kit. It doesn't like getting hot, so this may be a problem in the back of a 4x4.

It is great stuff for fixing kids up. If you could get hold of some, it's not rocket science to use it, but not sure if there are "instructions" on the packet - it's not just a case of filling up the wound with glue though.

Just my two cents worth, which in the age of rounding equals bugger all....
David T

Johnson & Johnson have a new product called liquid bandaid. For between fingers, toes, etc & faces. Saw it on the tv the other night, that might be as good.

Cheers

Jackablue

I once cut part of my ear off, went to the doctors only to be told the peice was too small to stitch back on.

He then glued it on with Shelleys Super Glue.

I quizzed him and was told it was non toxic, worked well and provided a tough scab to allow the wound to heal.

I have used it since, and it is damn handy to have in the first aid kit.

Steve

The J&J stuff is not cheap at around $18 a bottle

Slammin,

In my non off road life I am a Paramedic. As one of the other replies stated, the stuff they use in Accident & Emergency Departments is not the same as Super Glue you would buy at the hardware. Just remember that the greatest cause of ongoing problems with any wound is when they have rubbish left in them even pieces that you can't see with the human eye. I would be very sure that the wound is fully clean before applying glue over it as you would be creating a great seal for infection to develop under. Hope this helps.

They are similar but not the same:

Although not labeled as such, over-the-counter Super Glue products contain methyl alcohol, because it is inexpensive to produce. Cyanoacrylates cure by a chemical reaction called polymerization, which produces heat. Methyl alcohol has a pronounced heating action when it contacts tissue and may even produce burns if the glue contacts a large enough area of tissue. Rapid curing may also lead to tissue necrosis. Midwives have not noted such reactions because minimal amounts are being used for perineal repair. Nevertheless, with a greater toxic potential, over-the-counter products are inappropriate for use in wound closure. (Quinn & Kissick, 1994)

Medical grade products currently available contain either butyl, isobutyl or octyl esters. They are bacteriostatic and painless to apply when used as directed, produce minimal thermal reaction when applied to dry skin and break down harmlessly in tissue. They are essentially inert once dry. Butyl products are rigid when dry, but provide a strong bond. Available octyl products are more flexible when dry, but produce a weaker bond.

From: http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/superglu.html

I cut my scrotum open on a trailbike back in the 70's when I slid off in the mud. Had one of my golf balls hanging out of the sack and was feeling like I would bleed to death. I was alone and a long way from help. A guy in an old 40 series short wheel base found me lying on the track about 2 hours later with me knackers in my hand and I was not too good. He got out a tube of silicone and squirted a big lump into my jocks and drove me to hospital. It was a 2 hour trip. It sealed around the wound and stopped the bleeding and bonded with the cotton of my jocks to form a great seal. I was in pain anyway and I only noticed a slight sting when the silicone made contact.

By the time I got to a doctor the silicone had gone hard and when he looked at it he gave me a shot of pethadine and carefully removed the silicone lump. It came off in 1 big lump and just took off a bit of hair in the process. Left me bits looking like a bodybuilder. Anyway the doctor said that it probably stopped me from bleeding to death. I got a lot of stiches and still have the scars.

I always carry silicone in the tool kit now.

I have found this thread very interesting and amusing. It sounds as if Andrew and Jen have the medical edge on the argument, but Floyd's experience shows "anything in an emergency".

To my scant knowledge on Super Glue, it was developed by NASA to assemble the interior of space craft to avoid the weight of fixings, like screws. If I was in Floyd's situation I'd certainly be using silicone or super glue before I tried to nail the pieces back together again.

Jack

My mum was a nurse in Vietnam and they used to get guys in that were "glued up". It was applied to the edges of the wound in blobs to work like stiches, not run along the wound to completly seal it up. I have done it several times to injuries on my hands but hope I never have to use it on any thing more serious.

Slammin after all that can I got to the hardware and buy supa glue or not for the medical kit. Seems to be 2 thoughts what do you think.

All the best
eric

Geeze ya gotta love a forum like this a mixture of know how - research - professionals and the plain OH MY GOD I'm reading the post thru my fingers covering my face, while trying not to laugh.

I think Hoyks and Black Jack cover the issue the way I see it. If theres nothing better at the time and if used sparingly then it'd be pretty helpful.

Eric with my young fella he's already done his lip on the towbar so I can only imagine what's coming up..........

As for the crew with the split fingers I've gotta sympathise with. I live in the desert and winter just pisses me off. Cracked swollen fingers - no more I'm superglue man.

In the end I just advise all and sundry to be careful out in the Far West Macs because I've got superglue and I'm just itching to try it out on someone - anyone.

Shouldn't Real men should use Liquid Nails, not superglue?