UKH

anyone have super glue in there first aid kit? is it just normal super glue or is there special medical stuff?

In reply to gordon Ross:

No, but a roll of duck tape covers most emergencies this side of a helicopter.

In reply to gordon Ross:

i've got some loctite 496, seems to seal most cuts and helps with split fingertips

In reply to gordon Ross:

Medical superglue has a different composition, but it is for internal use etc. I doubt that a dab of it to hold a bit of a cut together will do any harm. Besides which it's good for sticking nails that have had a battering back down until they all part company from their digit.

In reply to gordon Ross:

If it's just fixing down flappers, the household stuff works ok.

Have tried

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/review/reviewproduct/mps/RPN/5788/RER/2/v/2

but it's just not durable enough.

In reply to Gordon Ross:

Has anyone else made the mistake of superglueing a torn nail or big flapper and then dusted the glue with chalk to speed the curing process?

If you haven't then I'll warn you off. The resulting reaction sets the superglue very quickly but is very exothermic and if you've been liberal with the glue you'll know it as it burns and sets in milliseconds.

Go carefully...

Just try using it to set the end of a frayed boolace - a few drops on the lace, pull the lace tight and there is usually a fair amount of smoke due to the heat of reaction. Wouldn't fancy that under a torn fingernail!

In reply to gordon Ross:

I used it to repair a broken crown on my tooth. The hard bit was getting it dry enough but got me through new year.

In reply to The Crow: Water will set off any uncured cyanoacrylate and cool the reaction at the same time.

In reply to The Crow:


That's odd, I thought the curing process was triggered by water. That said, my chemistry is shakey so who knows.
jk

In reply to gordon Ross:
I found that for fixing small holes in my hands, before they turn into big bleedy holes, it's ok, but it does set hard. Then when you catch it again, it tends to catch and rip a bigger area of skin. Best to use some tape over the top. Not tried sticking flappers though.

In reply to gordon Ross:

From Wiki:

Medical uses

The use of cyanoacrylate glues in medicine was considered fairly early on. Eastman Kodak and Ethicon began studying whether the glues could be used to hold human tissue together after surgery. In 1964, Eastman submitted an application to use cyanoacrylate glues to seal wounds to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Soon afterward Dr. Harry Coover's glue did find use in Vietnam—reportedly in 1966, cyanoacrylates were tested on-site by a specially trained surgical team, with impressive results. In an interview with Dr. Coover by the Kingsport Times-News, Coover said that the compound demonstrated an excellent capacity to stop bleeding, and during the Vietnam War, he developed disposable cyanoacrylate sprays for use in the battlefield.
“ If somebody had a chest wound or open wound that was bleeding, the biggest problem they had was stopping the bleeding so they could get the patient back to the hospital. And the consequence was—many of them bled to death. So the medics used the spray, stopped the bleeding, and were able to get the wounded back to the base hospital. And many, many lives were saved. ”

—Dr. Harry Coover

The original Eastman formula was not FDA approved for medical use, however, because of a tendency to cause skin irritation and to generate heat. In 1998 the FDA approved 2-octyl cyanoacrylate for use in closing wounds and surgical incisions. Closure Medical has developed medical cyanoacrylates such as Dermabond, Soothe-N-Seal and Band-Aid Liquid Adhesive Bandage.

In reply to Bass:

We use Dermabond on a daily basis to completely seal surgical wounds on, for example, small furries, hyperactive dogs or mad cats, where we don't want to leave external sutures in place.

Have to say, it handles, sticks and feels just like ordinary superglue - which I've used for years on my own skin without any probs. I do find, though, that it's not completely durable and so gets used along with intradermal absorbable sutures. I can see how useful it would be for pre-transport haemostasis, although I haven't come across the sprays. We may do some digging into this, as it could be useful for immediate attention to torn pads/ears/tails/dew claws

In reply to Bass: Anything like this? http://www.tw-od.com/ProductView.aspx?ProductID=16705

In reply to mike swann:

'Do not apply to infected wounds'

All wound are contaminated. I'd be really wary about sealing anything into a wound - if it's going to stay open then hygiene and innate immunity are more likely to be helpful. That siad, I do remember similar stuff in a can from about 20 years ago. I was in France and got horrendous sunburn, and was sprayed with a sort of plastic skin which stayed on for a few days - and completely ablated all the pain I was in. I've never found it since

In reply to mike swann: Same idea, different chemicals I suspect.

In reply to gordon Ross:

Have used regular superglue a couple of times on cuts that refused to stay shut - no ill effects.

Of course, the next time I use it I'll probably get gangrene or something and end up with no arm or dead.

Hey, thems the breaks eh?

In reply to gordon Ross:

Anyone know where you can get that powder that helps clot blood on wounds?

In reply to jkarran:

It is!


You're just not thinking of the whole picture and neither was I. "Climbers chalk" is a mixture of Magnesium and Calcium Carbonates and is not anyhydrous. I think for every molecule of Carbonate there are 6 of water by typical composition. Strange to think that chalk is not "dry" isn't it?

There's plenty enough water to fuel the reaction as I found out. I was rather liberal with the glue though...

In reply to gordon Ross:

http://www.newskinproducts.com/

In reply to Merlin: Boots. It's called Stop Bleeding Fast or some such obvious name.