From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Subject: Re: Dr. Weil
Date: 17 May 1997
Newsgroups: misc.health.alternative

In <19970516181800.OAA08063@ladder02.news.aol.com> traiteusse@aol.com
(TRAITEUSSE) writes:
>
>>> Dr. Weil is also amazing.  He's no quack!  This man has
>changed my life, and I can also guarantee the same promise from
>THOUSANDS<<
>
>Is this the same Dr. Weil who feels that cracked skin on the heels is due
>to the dry atmosphere (he suffers from it himself), and recommends that
>superglue be used to bind the edges together?  He also recommended using
>superglue to bind the edges of cuts.  Guess we have to sift the wheat
>from the chaff.




    Superglue was used by trauma surgeons in Vietnam to glue the edges
of lacerated livers together (ever try to SEW liver?).  Works great.
It also works perfectly fine in normal skin wounds, and is non-toxic.
The only reason it hasn't been approved by the FDA for this purpose is
that the studies would cost millions, and who's going to pay them?
Superglue has long since passed off-patent.

   I work occasionally at a private research lab which does
experimental surgical research on animals.  In dogs, we had a lot of
problem with oozing and infection at sites where arterial catheters
were left in.  Now we superglue them and all that problem is gone.  The
glue doesn't interfere with healing, and it seals excellently.  It is
as resistent to abscessing as staples, and seals far better.  For
wounds in animals which have been anticoagulated, it's a godsend.
Survival animals which have catheters pulled later suffer no ill
effects, and the wounds heal fine.

   Weil has many areas where he's out to lunch, but superglue isn't one
of them.

                                      Steve Harris, M.D.

From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Wounds requiring stitching and Coloskin
Date: 19 Dec 1998 07:00:52 GMT

In <ElCe2.1676$qF5.4830701@lwnws01.ne.mediaone.net>
gwes@ursolaris.spdcc.com (Geoff Steckel) writes:

>>Basically it's just "Super Glue" (cyano-something-or-other). If there
>>really is a difference between the hardware store version and the much
>>more expensive medical version, I don't know what it is.
>
>You'd probably have to ask on sci.chem exactly what the difference
>is, but this is the basis:
>
>Superglue as normally formulated is either too good or not good enough. A
>healing wound requires an elastic and permeable seal.  Superglue from the
>hardware store is too stiff and makes a fairly impermeable seal. It has
>taken a very long time (20 years? longer?) to discover a modification to
>superglue which allows the wound to breathe without being too weak to
>hold well.
>
>The glue bond also has to degrade in the skin as new tissue grows in,
>or it will cause a bigger scar than the original wound would.
>For very superficial wounds, where the bond is -only- in dead skin,
>it's not a big problem.
>
>	HTH
>	geoff steckel



      I'm skeptical.  For one thing, we use ordinary superglue on dog
surgical wounds and it works great (this is closure of fairly large
wound beds which are leaking heparinized blood).  For another, I know
commercial cyanoacrylate "superglue" was being used in Vietnam in the
60's for things like liver trauma (you can't sew liver) and it worked
great there, too.   The holdup was not some magic reformulation (though
there may have been minor improvements).  The holdup was the FDA and
the medical patent process.  Same old, same old.

                                    Steve Harris, M.D.

From: nlwtfwnm@aol.com (NLW TFW NM)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Fixing small cuts and finger nails with Krazy Glue?
Date: 12 Jan 1999 18:27:31 GMT

Re:"I guess "read the label" means nothing. While I did not get out my
crazy glue, it seems to me that it specifically says not to get it on
your skin. For me, cleaning, putting on some kind of otc stuff to stop
infections, and a bandaid seem easier and safer.  Yes, I also heard or
read that there is a special glue that doctors are trying on small wounds
in ERs. That stuff has been tested (I hope) on humans and is used by MDs
not by you or me."

Let's try again to explain it.

The label says not to get it on our skin because it bonds skin. THAT'S WHY WE
WANT TO USE IT ON DAMAGED SKIN. You DON'T dip your finger in Krazy Glue before
picking your nose or going to the bathroom, but you DO dab it into a minor,
clean skin lesion to bond it shut in certain situations.

And such situations include those in which a bandaid won't stay on. Ever try
sailing a wet boat or windsurfer or doing yardwork with bandaids over bloody
blisters on your palms? Doesn't work. A dab of Krazy Glue, 3 minutes' drying
time, and your palms are like new for a couple of days. No blood gets out, no
dirt gets in, and no pain. That's GOOD. Dermatologists RECOMMEND it for such
applications.

A special glue for ERs and small wounds? [Maybe] tested on humans? Heck, the
stuff was DESIGNED for and has been USED IN major surgery for many years. It
BEGAN as surgical cement, and THEN trickled down to K-Mart. The major
differencees (to this discussion) between the  stuff surgeons use after a
Caesarean and the stuff Johnny used to glue the cat to the dog are the price,
liability, and FDA approval.

When the new windsurfing season rips the young callouses right off my hands, I
have three choices:
1. Stop sailing for two weeks (and then rip my palms off again anyway).
2. Put on Vaseline, sport bandaids, duct tape, and gloves, try to sail with all
that crap on my hands, change it all twice a day, put up with all the pain and
blood, and hope it doesn't get infected before it heals in a week or two.
3. Slap on some Krazy Glue and NEVER THINK ABOUT AGAIN until this time next
year.

Guess which option windsurfing dermatologists select.

Mike

From: jrfox@no.spam.fastlane.net.no.spam (Jonathan R. Fox)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Fixing small cuts and finger nails with Krazy Glue?
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 15:01:05 GMT

On Sun, 10 Jan 1999 01:14:35 GMT, The Fonz <fornssler@shaw.wave.ca>
wrote:

>Just read an article in a health magazine (while waiting at drugstore,
>so don't have the reference) that a new type of "dermaglue" has been
>developed for drs to use in emergency rooms, instead of stitching up
>cuts.  They don't plan to market it to us regular people, because the
>substance has to be used carefully. Anyway, the article ended by saying
>that now drs in emergency rooms wouldn't have to continue fixing their
>own cuts by using Krazy Glue.  So I guess it is not uncommon.

The stuff is called "Dermabond" and I love it.  It allows us to close
wounds in seconds without anesthesia or needles.  Quite handy in a
pediatric ER, where a one year-old with a laceration on the face might
previously need to be pharmacologically sedated, which takes a lot of
time, extra staff and monitoring, and is not without risks, so that we
can suture the wound carefully with a tiny needle.  With Dermabond,
you simply hold the kid down and glue it shut.  No risky medicines, no
needles, and the parents don't have to sit around for an hour waiting
for their kid to wake up.

--
Jonathan R. Fox, M.D.