Tissue Adhesive Glue

Tissue adhesive glue has been a revolutionary step in the management of lacerations.

Tissue glue is indicated for low tension wounds, or occasionally higher tension wounds that have been properly undermined and layered.  Its advantages include speed of application for the clinician, painless application for the patient, and decreased tissue inflammatory response compared with sutures.  Also, there is typically no need for a follow up visit unless complications with the wound occur.

Here’s a video reviewing the proper application of tissue glue demonstrated on a pig foot model.  Here I am using 2-octyl cyanoacrylate (Derma-Flex, produced by Chemence Medical Products), but there are a number of commercially available products available for medical use.  I don’t have financial ties nor specific recommendations of one product vs another.

I do recommend that you stick to products approved for medical use, rather than using crazy glue from your local hardware store. For more information on why, you can check out a forthcoming blog posting I plan to entitle, “A few things you didn’t know about tissue adhesive glue.”