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?
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 as it healed.
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 from a dryrotted broken broomstick.
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 with tweezers (yes I should try to fit some tweezers in the kit), wash, rinse and repeat as stated above. It healed up so perfectly that I can barely even see the scar myself.
👍