My name is Jim Benson. I'm editor and publisher of ModernSurvival.net website, an online magazine. We have a Department called Ask Us in which readers submit questions and we answer them. One of our readers recently subsmited the following:

"In a situation where medical treatment is not readily available, I heard that I can close a flesh wound with Super Glue. I suspect that I would want to clean the wound if possible, then close the skin and glue it together. The other night, I saw a forensics TV show where someone squirted a whole tube into a gaping wound and that was that. Would the glue have to be removed later? My doctor doesn't want to talk about it"

I noticed that this website (EquippedtoSurvive.com) has emergency medical kit supply lists that include Super Glue for wound closures.

I have been doing research on this subject and saw where a few years back the FDA recommended a type of glue similar to Super Glue for use in minor wound closures. This type of treatment is not recommended for deep wounds, which would still require sutures for proper closure.

Also, various types of medical glues are used for this purpose in other countries.

But I have not been able to ascertain whether the commonly available product Super Glue is actually recommended by medical authorities for use in lieu of stitches for minor wound closures.

I'd lke to know what you hve to say about this matter, and why, specifically, you recommend inclusion of a tube of Super Glue in emergency medical kits.