Have you ever used superglue to close a bleeding wound?

For surgery, there are surgical glues which are specifically made for medical use. They may refer to it as “glue” or “superglue” but it’s not the same as something you get at Home Depot for construction or household repairs.

Those were her exact words….“Use superglue.” She did not clarify or specify beyond that. Pretty sure all my docs are out to kill me.

I did a little looking around. There is some stuff called Dermabond. I wonder if they sell it OTC.

Edited, for “may”
It’s very important to specify, otherwise people may think it is about the not for medical use kind
Random to me site:
https://www.realfirstaid.co.uk/superglue

”During the Vietnam war it was used in field surgery with good effect, however, despite the promising results it was not approved by the Unites States Food and Drug Administration due to the unknown toxicity and two significant side effects during the polymerization process:”_

“The curing process creates an exothermic reaction (heat) which can cause further tissue damage.”
”The process releases cyanoacetate and formaldehyde – both irritants to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs.”

I called my son who has actually used superglue! He said the make stuff called liquid bandaid that you can get at Walmart. Rick is there now. I slapped.a large bandage on it in the meantime to soak up the leak. It’s staining my shirt.

@Dutchess_lll: What the hell? The surgeon should take you back in and fix what’s going on. Were you moving around too much and made it open up, or did the surgeon not do a good job of closing the surgical site?

I have no clue. Getting this guy to follow up is absolutely ridiculous.
It’s not bleeding bleeding. More like seeping.

That sounds no good either, @Dutchess_lll. Might get infected or be infected already. WTF. Doctor should have an answering service for emergencies.

Oh the story I could tell when I tried to get ahold.of him last Thursday. I swear to God the words “I don’t know what to tell you” should be beaten out of anyone who is even remotely connected to customer service.
Receptionists offering medical advice about a situation they know nothing about should be illegal too.

Poor Caravanfan! I vented all over the poor guy!

Since it’s your abdomen you need to lie fairly still, or move very slowly and carefully the first few days. You use your abdominal muscles practically every time you move.

You can probably use a couple of butterfly bandages instead of surgical glue assuming your stitches aren’t torn down so deep that you actually need to be stitched again.

You can be seen by urgent care if your surgeon is giving you a hard time.

Are you taking antibiotics?

Is it oozing pinkish fluid? Green? Clear?

Doctor did not give me those instructions.
I’ve had 3 kids, 10 grands and I’ve treated more injuries than you can shake a stick at. I know the signs of an infection

Ok. I’d say that does qualify you. Still, it might be prudent to be on antibiotics after stomach surgery. I was just wondering if the doc sent you home with some.

Stop please.

Yes I have. But there are some rules you must follow.

*The wound must be clean.
*It works best on a straight cut. I have never tried using super glue on a jagged cut, and I imagine a jagged cut would probably be dirty anyway.
*You must hold the edges shut and get the glue on it before it starts to bleed.
*In my experience you need 3 hands. One pair to hold the edges of the wound shut, and one hand to apply the glue.
*After applying the glue, continue to hold the wound shut until the glue sets.

Oh! And if you compare a cut closed with super glue and one closed with stitches, you can barely find the super glue scar.

Well thanks @snowberry. Makes sense. It’s a surgical cut so it’s straight. I will.give WM one more shot tomorrow. I’d rather use a product that’s made for the purpose, but Lord knows I’ve improvised in the past!
My son has only used Superglue on head wounds which is logical.

Another “rule”:

*Superglue doesn’t work if the cut is on a joint.

It’s not. Thanks.

It won’t work if the edges are wet with blood or are seeping any fluid. The fact that it’s seeping makes it a no-go for superglue. If you closed it up and didn’t allow it to drain, you’d buy yourself a big problem.

But aren’t all wounds bleeding? If they aren’t what’s the point of closing them up?

If you cut yourself, it takes a few seconds (maybe 20 I guess) before the blood appears. This emergency first aid is only suitable for superficial straight line cuts. If it goes into the muscle, you need an emergency room.

If your surgical site is leaking, you shouldn’t have to buy anything at Walmart and fix it yourself. The surgeon should take you back in and look at it and fix it.

@snowberry…this is due to a surgery I had 8 days ago. One of the 3 entry points of the laparoscopic surgery is leaking.

@jca2 I agree with you 100% and I’m getting more pissed by.the moment.

I did. I sliced my index finger with a razor and was desperate. The cut was about ½ long. I would have used a butterfly if I had one. The superglue worked long enough for me to get home and put on a proper band aid. .

I forgot to add. A couple of days after my “repair” I began to play and fiddle with the hardened glue edge. That opened it up a little.
Leave it alone.

I can’t believe you weren’t warned about this possibility and advised to return immediately upon the appearance of such “symptoms”. The cavalier attitude of both the doctor and his staff sound like an attorney’s field of dreams. What’s your plan? Are you going to sit still and try to wait it out?

I think it has stopped bleeding. Now it just itches like F.

Can you trust yourself not to scratch in your sleep?

I think so. It would hurt like hell to do that I think.

I suppose you will find out

I’ll let you know! If there is a post full of nothing but cuss words that will be me if I scratched it!

Rick set out to get some liquid bandaid last night, but was unable to find anything called “liquid bandaid” so he came home empty handed. I called WM and they said they did carry it. She got a little pissy when I asked her to go physically check please. She did (supposedly) and said there was “liquid skin” on the shelves.
So now I suppose I need to go out and get some of that but not sure if I can apply it myself and Rick is out of town. >_<. The doctor isn’t in today.

You know, I’ve about had it with the rudeness that people display toward their customers or patients or whatever. On two different occasions, when I was trying to get ahold of a medical person to help me when I was unable to get ahold of my doc, I had two different receptionists say, “Well, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Yet another started dispensing medical advice when she didn’t even know the situation.

I called to make an appointment with my regular Doc, who was at lunch. In speaking to the receptionist I mentioned that the other nurse told me to use Superglue.
She said, “Well, that’s basically what we do.”
I’m going to talk to the doc about that.

I wonder if I should charge my surgeon for the office visit. This is something he should be available to take care of for free.

It sounds like there’s a shortage of malpractice lawyers where you live. Out here money concentrates both good healthcare and those preying on whoever strays in the slightest from the standard. The result is that even the non rich are given the pretense of concern for their well being.

Remind me never to eat again.

What are you doing about that now?

Oh, it was my own fault. I ate (or tried to eat) too a big bite of my Arby’s French Dip sandwich and liked to have killed myself.

I’m sorry. I can’t suppress the giggles. Poor baby! (and I mean it despite the giggles).

IT’S RIDICULOUS!! I want to be able to snorkle out on this sandwich because it’s my favorite and I haven’t eaten since yesterday, but nooooo! I have to cut it up into literally maybe ½ teaspoon bites. >_<

Throw it in the blender. But seriously, more soups and liquids? ANY excuse for a good thick milkshake!

Well, I lost whatever was trying to get in my tum so that was a relief. I made a pretty good dent in what was left of that half a sandwich….½ tsp at a time.
Now I’m carefully eating an apple tart.

Oh, BTW, they DID say that regular old superglue was fine to use.

That’s interesting and worth remembering. Sunday night around 10 PM I came out of the Target in Redwood city pissed about unsuccessfully trying to find something on the list of another beaming grandparent’s offspring. And there sprawled on the ground directly under the rear bumper of my cargo van was a guy, obviously in bad shape, staring up at me. I immediately swiveled my head toward the sky, mumbling, “bad enough, you let em sell out of the damned windup swing. You’re gonna stick me with this?” The stars laughed back as the guy said “You pretending you don’t see me?” To which I replied “I was wondering if I could back over you and escape from this lot without being noticed.” He managed to sit up enough for me to see that there was blood trickling down the back of his head as a strapping kid in his early morning 20s walked over to us and the adventure commenced. This is the sort of life I live. The gods have granted me great good fortune , but there is this never ending string of little insults that spook me out. Like my unfailing abysmal supermarket line karma that even the wife acknowledges is true.