Liquid Bandages
Mother’s Day: One of the new tools in the medicine kit of Dr. Moms everywhere makes it easier to mend those cuts, scratches, and scrapes.
Credit: iStock
Take a stroll through the first-aid aisle in a drugstore. Among the dizzying selection of gauze and medical tape and the myriad colors, shapes, and materials of adhesive bandages, you will likely find a few products labeled as “liquid bandages.” Many first-aid kits are now also stocked with a small bottle of this wound-covering alternative. And don’t be surprised if you go to the emergency room for stitches and the doctor pulls out glue instead.
Although traditional bandages, stitches, and staples are far from obsolete, many medical professionals, consumers, and even the military are turning to liquid bandages to patch up injuries ranging from hangnails to head wounds.
A liquid bandage is a colorless adherent material that can be sprayed or painted directly on a wound. It reduces pain by covering nerve endings and helps wounds heal by maintaining a proper moisture balance and keeping bacteria and debris out, says Ann Salamone, president of Rochal Industries, a private research company in Boca Raton, Fla., that develops polymer systems for wound care.
The bandages work by sealing the wound until the damaged area heals and the surrounding skin and bandage slough off. How long that takes depends on the type of liquid bandage and the depth of the wound.
Visit “What’s That Stuff” to read more about liquid bandages.
Excerpted with permission, Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society