I just read a post on super glue and it oddly wont let me comment on it. Here it is. All of it was right except where the guy says. You cant use household super glue to close open wounds. LOL what a joke. I have used super glue to glue the tips of my fingers shut when they split from Dryness so i can play my guitar. Yesterday i was carving wood and slipped and stuck a Case xx knife blade in the meaty part of my hand below the last joint in my thumb, I super glued that sucker just now. I have used super glue for this for at least 7 years with NO ill effects. No irritation of skin. Yes a little warmth but not a hot burning. I know if you get a drop on your jeans they will smoke lol but for some reason it dont do that on your skin. Also everytime i have glued a cut shut (After cleaning WELL) it heals much faster. This isnt a lie. Just try a simple experiment. If you get a cut hold it closed and put super glue on one finger tip and VERY QUICKLY Swipe it over the surface of the cut. Keep it held shut and blow it till it dries and let go of it. Just dont glue your finger to your wound lol. I did that the first time i tried it.
Is this the article to which you’re responding?
Link to the article: Was Super Glue invented to seal battle wounds in Vietnam? - The Straight Dope
You’re commenting on it right now. The “Comment on This Answer” link takes you to this forum.
There are three things wrong with the sentence above…I’ll address the most important one. What the column actually says is:
It doesn’t say “can’t”, it says in effect that it’s unadvised. Some people can have reactions, other people obviously not. And some glues may have a formulation which produces too much hear, others not. The point is there are specific medical glues which are designed for this use and which should be given preference over any random glue purchased from the hardware store. Since we’re not in the business of giving medical advice which could be misused by the general public, not being your doctor (or a doctor, period), we are forced to hedge on the side of safety and caution.
Nothing in Cecil’s column is contradicted by what you say here. Relevant quote:
Lots of cans and shoulds, but no absolutes. All Cecil said is it’s safer to use the glue designed for medical applications, not that the household stuff won’t work.
FTR, Cecil said no such thing.
Yep, I realized that too late to edit. Sorry, Una.
Thank you. Since I spend so much time being Cecil’s Girl Friday rather than writing Staff Reports, I try to make sure I keep the credit (and criticisms) close where I can on the articles I did write.
Haven’t tried supergluing my own wounds together, but I would like to point out that different people have different skin sensitivities, so the fact that it doesn’t bother you does not mean it won’t bother others. I also have tough skin - I can’t be bothered wearing gloves when using all sorts of household cleaners right out of the bottle and it has never caused me problems, and if I glue my fingertips together with superglue I’ve always just pulled them apart.
My point being, just because your skin is tough enough that you can do it (and I strongly suspect I could too) doesn’t mean most people can.
yes you all are also right he didnt say exact words i said. But nevertheless super glue is safe for gluing cuts for me anyway. It works wonders. That cut i got yesterday is healing very fast now. Its a little sore but germs cant get in thanks to super glue.
Cecil didn’t say what you implied at all. You misread the column.
And it wasn’t Cece, it was Una.
Argh, my apologies Una, I knew that I just typed the wrong name.