I ask this because I just finished packing a pocket sized mini first aid kit, using supplies from our full size home kit. I’m sure people will mostly agree with the contents I packed, but does anyone have any other suggestions?
This is the kit I packed today, should I try to add anything else? There’s not much space left, but I can probably stuff a couple other flat packet items in there, so am I like missing anything obvious that might fit?
Are liquid bandages fairly common in pharmacies now?
They sound convenient.
Are they much pricier than a box of bandaids?
What is their shelf life/storage conditions like?
I keep it for treating needle and stapler wounds which are rather small, but that’s also an unusual use case. It’s honestly inferior to regular bandaids if a wound is still bleeding. You’d probably be fine without it, I just find it more convenient than sticking bandaids everywhere.
I’ve easily found it in both the US and Canada, it’s usually about $10 a bottle
Thanks, I hadn’t realized it had become so commonplace.
Liquid bandage is basically super glue. Not good to keep in an emergency kit, especially in a hot vehicle glove box, that stuff will either leak out or harden in the tube, if not both, and you only find out the hard way when you need it.
Don’t get me wrong, liquid bandage/super glue is useful in a pinch, I’ve used it myself, but you don’t wanna store volatile chemicals like that in an emergency kit.
Got it, I asked because I travel a lot and suspected the chemicals might not do great in varying climates or drastic elevation changes.
Still cool, are they pretty common in pharmacies these days? and super expensive or not too crazy?
Honestly I don’t know what the prices are on liquid bandage, the only tiny bottle I ever got was given to me. That bottle had a brush on the cap, similar to a nail polish brush.
As far as I’m aware, liquid bandage is more or less super glue with a bit of nail polish remover (acetone?) mixed in to somewhat slow curing time.
I just ended up using straight super glue on one particular wound, which indeed worked, but yeah super glue cures pretty damn fast, especially when it gets wet…
Gotcha thanks.
I went to a dentist once in Utah who was super cool and we talked for a while and when he was finishing up refitting a crown he was like look I’m definitely not supposed to say this, but if you don’t want to pay a hundred bucks to refit a crown or you’re not near a dentist office, you can absolutely use super glue.
And I was like “is that not toxic?”
And he shrugged and was like “I mean a little but not much.”
I’m more interested in trying it out as a topical bandage.
You know that flap of ‘webbing’ skin between your thumb and your index finger? Yeah, I had that ripped down to where I could literally see my tendons working…
Here in the USA, hospital bills are ridiculous! So, after like a half hour of washing and waiting for the bleeding to slow almost to a stop, I used super glue and a piece of paper towel to patch over it.
Since it cured so fast, I had to use some acetone to rub over the top of my wound patch, to smooth out the rough dried glue. Then I went and bought a pair of bicycle gloves. I only needed the right glove, to protect my homemade bandage.
Every 2 or 3 days, I had to maintain my bandage rigup, which basically meant peel that shit off, investigate, and use tweezers to pull super glue out of the wound as it healed. I wasn’t looking to have super glue get grown in under the skin ya know…
It took about a month before it fully healed, no noticeable scar and no stitches. Hand works fine too. 👍
Disclaimer: Not a doctor, I just did what I felt best, and it worked.
Glad to hear it worked out so well for you! Thanks for the testimony, I’ve heard super glue prevents scars but yours is the first personal confirmation, very cool.
Surgical tech here - we use a similar in surgery sometimes called “Dermabond” (it’s basically super glue for skin).
It can be good for closing a clean incision, like if you get sliced with a razor and the skin edges almost seal themselves on their own.
Jagged lacerations or open abrasions, or a flap like the previous poster described are NOT good candidates for that type of product, especially if you’re awake when it’s applied, cuz that stuff hurts like a motherfucker when it’s drying.
Other than pain, if it dries when the skin isn’t perfectly aligned, it can make scaring worse; and unless you irrigate the fuck out of it with some kind of antimicrobial solution, that’s a lot of surface area to harbor a pathogen that leads to an infection. And you do not want to fuck around with things like necrotizing fasciitis (image search that if you want some nightmare fuel).
Thanks, I’m familiar with how liquid bandages work(TIL thread about their military origins) and unhappily familiar with necrotizing fasciitis, I’m more curious about the commercial availability of liquid bandages as I hadn’t realized they were common in pharmacies yet.
As the dumbfuck that actually did that, I almost wholeheartedly agree, such measures should only be temporary at most, until they get to the hospital.
At least I dropped the disclaimer, I’m no doctor, I’m just a knucklehead, one that’s had pain level 13 on the 10 scale before, so super glue drying in my wound didn’t even bother me.
Hey, even as temporary use, at least super glue might help keep the patient from leaking out…