Miracle Glue And Wound Closure!

Have you ever heard of gluing a cut together? The first time I heard about this I was somewhat shocked. I was selling a product called Miracle Glue at trade shows. I had people telling all the outrageous stories possible about the origins of cyanoacrylates (superglue) – Miracle Glue is in the same category. The prevailing story was that superglue had been invented in the Vietnam era for soldiers. It was more effective than bandages in sealing up a cut or wound closure. I researched this pretty thoroughly and found that although these types of glues were used in Vietnam and later for suturing wounds, super glue was discovered much earlier.

Cyanoacrylates were stumbled upon by a couple of gentleman at Eastman-Kodak in the 1940s then again in the 50s. These gentlemen were experimenting on scopes for rifles and cyanoacrylate was one of their mistakes. The first cyanoacrylates that were formed were ethyl and methyl. In the 1970s n-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate then 2-octyl cyanoacrylate were developed, the latter being approved by the FDA and marketed as such products as Traumaseal and Dermabond. The butyl and octyl being less irritating to the skin. The earlier ones will do...