Evaluation of a liquid dressing for minor nonbleeding abrasions and class I and II skin tears in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND Minor abrasions and skin tears are usually treated with gauze dressings and topical antibiotics requiring frequent and messy dressing changes. OBJECTIVE We describe our experience with a low-cost, cyanoacrylate-based liquid dressing applied only once for minor abrasions and skin tears. METHODS We conducted a single-center, prospective, noncomparative study in adult emergency department (ED) patients with minor nonbleeding skin abrasions and class I and II skin tears. After cleaning the wound and achieving hemostasis, the wounds were covered with a single layer of a cyanoacrylate liquid dressing. Patients were followed every 1-2 days until healing. RESULTS We enrolled 40 patients with 50 wounds including 39 abrasions and 11 skin tears. Mean (standard deviation) age was 54.5 (21.9) years and 57.5% were male. Wounds were located on the face (n = 16), hands (n = 14), legs (n = 11), and arms (n = 9). Pain scores (0 to 10 from none to worst) after application of the liquid dressing were 0 in 62% and 1-3 in the remaining patients. Follow-up was available on 36 patients and 46 wounds. No wounds re-bled and there were no wound infections. Only one wound required an additional dressing. Median (interquartile range [IQR]) time to complete sloughing of the adhesive was 7 (5.5-8) days. Median (IQR) time to complete healing and sloughing of the overlying scab was 10 (7.4-14) days. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggests that a single application of a low-cost cyanoacrylate-based liquid adhesive is a safe and effective treatment for superficial nonbleeding abrasions and class I and II skin tears that eliminates the need for topical antibiotics and dressings.