I cut my finger.

[Mickwish]

The superglue you buy from Walmart isn't the same as the medical superglue.

Medical superglue has a slightly different composition, as some of the non-medical superglue components are potentially toxic (dangerous).

That's why medical superglue is more expensive.

I think the stuff you refer to as liquid bandage is actually a form of spray adhesive dressing (like Opsite) rather than a real superglue.

As long as it stops bleeding should be OK, even if just a butterfly dressing stops it.

Cheers
Mick

[Telexen]

I would think as long as it's not specifically "plastics" superglue it would be safe ... I'm no expert on superglue though

[SeanC]

I would only buy the medical superglue if I did things like that, or go to the hospital and it would be free (at least in Canada). Let me clarify that it's them using it on your wound, not getting a tube of it for free from the hospital.

Sean

[Urban_Squrill]

Blah I just used butteryflyed it.

[blackwatch]

Originally posted by Telexen


Superglue was originally made for MEDICAL purposes. If he went to a hospital ... they would superglue it.

yes the military developed it for battle wounds somewhere around the 40's-50's.

[curiouslybaffled]

The glue became too expensive for hospitals and so doctors in the US started using crazy glue because it was the medical glue under a differant name then the fda forced manufacturers in the US to change the ingredients so it was no good anymore for medical use and Doctors started getting Canadian crazy glue because it was unchanged,I don't know if it was eventually changed or not but that was the story about 2 years ago.They were using it in major surgery mainly, as the story went because it was cheaper and shortened the healing time and reduced medical costs for patients as well in the doctors views somewhat safer.That is what I read anyway.

[Gomer]

color me curiouslybaffled as to how threads like this come back to life =Þ

[The Real Bingo]

Its mind boggling.

[RayH]

See professional medical assistance. Infections are no joke!

[Mickwish]

The issue with non-medical grade superglue is not infections per se, but tissue toxicity. Some of the components of regular superglue are potentially toxic to human tissue, and when you apply it to non-intact skin are capable of being absorbed into the body and potentially causing nasty effects (hair/teeth falling out, cancer, that sort of thing).

The US FDA is responsible for regulating such products in the US, so they would be the ones who decide what is allowable for use in medicine. The similar body in Australia, the TGA, has decreed that only medical grade superglue which is licensed by them as such can be used in health-care. I assume the US FDA has similar decrees, but have never checked. Of course, in a nation with high levels of pollutants in the air, anything is possible, I suppose.

Cheers
Mick