Medical Super Glue

Super glue has a long history of being used for wound closure. In Vietnam in the 1960s a spray form was being used in the field to stop bleeding and close wounds until the soldiers could be gotten back to a base where their wounds could be treated properly. This application saved a lot of lives.

This first type was a methyl cyanoacrylate. It was not approved because being a 'short chain' chemical compound it tended to be mildly toxic to deeper tissues. A longer chain chemical compound was developed called butyl-cyanoacrylate. It is more expensive to make but is the type that is used in countries such as Canada and some European countries that use glue for suturing.

Butyl-cyanoacrylate has been used since the 1970s for everything from middle ear surgery, bone and cartilage grafts to repair of cerebrospinal fluid leaks and skin closure. Lab studies have been done and in addition to 40 years of use in this way it has been pretty much proven that it is not carcogenic.

Most people do not differentiate between the different types of cyanoacrylate. There is also an ethyl-cyanoacrylate. This is why sometime reglular super glue (which is normally methyl or ethyl cyanoacrylate) is sometimes used for cuts and splits in the skin.

More about super glue here.