Got a Cut? Glue it Shut.

In the last 5 days two teammates have been sent for stitches on their face. One with a gash on his upper lip and the other with a gash on his nose. Both came out of it thread-free. Apparently Krazy Glue has a new use.

Actually Krazy Glue or super glue was used by trauma surgeons in Vietnam to glue lacerated livers back together. It seems that livers are unstitchable. Who knew?

So it seems that super glue has come full circle. First used as a surgical bond, then sold in K-Mart to suspend guys in hardhats from iron beams (remember those commercials?), and now used in the medical field once again to heal wounds. However, if you’re thinking that Krazy Glue may be an item to throw into your first-aid kit, you may want to reconsider.
The great thing about the glue is that to seal a cut, you no longer need anesthesia or needles. Which is a good thing. Because although tough on ice, once you get these hockey players into the hospital and pull out the needle they tend get a bit squeamish.

But the glue isn’t completely user friendly. It seems that it does sting or burn a little. Patient #1 went in to fix his upper lip and the glue got in the open areas. The burning sensation “made his eyes water.” Please note, he did not cry,

his eyes watered.

He described the sensation “like pouring gas on a canker sore.”  I’m not exactly sure why he knows what that feels like, but I’ll take his word that it’s not pleasant.

The glue when applied is about 0.5cm thick and dissolves in about 4 days. You can’t get it wet. So Patient #1 gets to walk around with “tough guy” lip and unshaven. He’s milking it for all it’s worth. As he put’s it, ” You know the scar is working when you get hit on by hairdresser cougars with big asses.”

Nice.

Although some think that the only difference between Krazy Glue and the Doctors’ Dermabond version is price, patent and liability, there are some significant differences. Your hardware variety glue is stiff and impermeable. A wound needs to move and breathe. So the medical glue has elasticity and lets the cut breathe a bit while still holding it together.  There may be other chemical, toxicity, and health reasons as well not addressed here, so save the Krazy Glue for the model airplane.

The common thing about these two injuries, besides the use of the glue, is that both players weren’t wearing a cage or shield. Patient #1 was wearing a mouth guard, so his teeth were spared.

The high sticks that caused the injuries were accidental in both cases. In the first game the ref ejected the offender for drawing blood. The ref also turned to our player and made sure he was alright.

In the second game where our player got the stick across the nose for 4 stitches, the offending player got a 4 minute penalty, and the ref went to the face off circle and enforced the 10 second face-off rule. I guess getting the game finished on time was more important than tending to a facial laceration.