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Comment by stavros | Hacker News Reader

More tips:

* Don't get it close to your eyes while it's drying, the fumes will HURT (ask how I know). The fumes also stain white, so leave it to dry somewhere outside.

* If you get a cut, you can pinch the skin together and use CA glue on it to keep it there. I've done this many times, hopefully it's not any kind of harmful, but a paramedic friend agreed that it should be OK.

* The article is right about using a tiny amount.

* I never managed to use a tube more than 2-3 times without the glue drying up. The only packaging that keeps going is a Loctite bottle I got. It holds 25ml, but it's better than buying 3ml at a time, using 0.5 and throwing the rest away.

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I’ve used CA on wounds quite a bit - I have a habit of carving myself open, usually on my fingers, and when it’s a deep cut that will reopen without sutures, glue it is.

You don’t want it in the wound. It won’t adhere well, and it will interfere with healing. Instead, I usually use a bit of sterile gauze, glue it to the skin on one side, let it set, and then pull the wound closed with it and glue it to the other side. I then bandage over to prevent dirt etc. getting in. I’ve used this on surgical wounds, too, when they weren’t closed by the hospital and I couldn’t get an appointment to have them addressed. Worked beautifully, no scar even.

WTF. You should have your own TV show! I mean, if TV shows where still a thing.

Cool trick!

This is pretty much the ER / urgent care does when you go in to glue a cut, but sanitary and performed by people who aren't themselves suffering from an open would on their hands or bodies.

Make sure you don't use cotton when you're doing this though.

Hah, yeah - I knew there was a second thing I wanted to mention, and that was it. Unless you’re looking to cauterise something, in which case there are much better ways - a red hot nail, for instance. Other excellent use for a hot nail is nail trephination, which I had to do only last week as I’m a dolt who carried a cast iron stove without closing the door first, and gravity did it for me, on my finger.

Being accident prone and living quite a long way from medical care teaches you a few tricks.

> I never managed to use a tube more than 2-3 times without the glue drying up.

I used to have the same problem, then I followed a friend's recommendation -- I keep it in the fridge inside a tiny Ziploc bag. I've never had it dry up since.

I actually keep a little bag with all my superglues in the corner of the fridge door -- regular, gel, liquid bandage, heel-seal, and nail repair. (Liquid bandage and heel-seal being designed specifically for skin.)

You’re probably already aware, but there are medical formulations of CA that are in theory less likely to irritate tissues than general purpose ones.

Yes, but I haven't managed to find any where I live... Do you know of any off the top of your head?

"If you get a cut, you can pinch the skin together and use CA glue on it to keep it there."

I am not a doctor or medical professional of any kind, but I've been advised to only do this in a small spot (like a stitch) rather than sealing the length of the cut (which can then fester).

I hear guitarists and bassists do this quite a bit during gigs.

Hmm, that sounds like good advice, thanks.

CA was originally invented for wound closure in the military. (That, in itself, doesn't make it safe, necessarily!)

> CA was originally invented for wound closure in the military.

Looks like that's not accurate[1].

Although, to be fair, the military has been using it for would closure for quite a while.

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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate

You're right, thanks for the correction. I think I incorrectly combined "invented as part of WWII research" and "used on soldiers in Vietnam" in my mind and somehow came up with "invented for use on soldiers"

There's a few different kinds of cyanoacrylate, and the common one you find in super glue, ECA, can cause severe irritation. In a pinch it will work, but the two other common versions, BCA and OCA, tend to be much better for medical uses. Liquid bandage products tend to use one of those.

You also don't really want to be using it for long-term wound care because it's barely breathable and tends to not promote the best wound healing.

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