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?
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…
Dermabond might be a little different… once it’s applied, it interacts with the air to produce a thermal reaction and kind of cooks itself into place. The pain is mostly from the heat - if you’ve ever hit an open wound against a heating element of some kind, it’s basically that. It’s also not a good temporary option - if it was prepped correctly it should kind of infuse into the skin - if hospital staff needed to do something there, they’d basically need to grind your skin off.
I’m guessing the product everyone else is talking about is a bit more forgiving.
I just used plain old super glue, but I kept close inspection of the wound and bandages and disinfectant and all.
After washing thoroughly and after the bleeding finally almost stopped, I used either iodine or betadine solution to disinfect, dabbed that off, then cut a strip of paper towel to fit over the rip. Then super glue that on, wait for it to dry, then I’d smooth it out with acetone.
I kept the bandage protected with a bicycle glove through the next month, while I managed to continue my tech job doing hardware repairs on computers, tablets and phones.
The rip itself was more or less surprisingly straight and clean, thankfully. The rip came from a large sharp wood splinter.
Every 2 to 3 days, I’d make sure to peel all that off and inspect. Each time I’d have to peel super glue out of the wound, wash, rinse and repeat as stated above, it healed up so perfectly that I can barely even see the scar.
👍