A long and true story on duct tape and medical applications:

A number of years ago, I had an EMS call to a home in a suburban neighborhood for a nosebleed. Upon arrival we met a man in his mid 50s holding a bloody rag to his nose. When asked how long he was experiencing this current nosebleed, he replied several hours, when asked if he could estimate his blood loss, he told us to go to his bedroom, where he had a plastic container where he had allowed his blood to collect before using the rag. I took a look and one-half the container was full, I estimated the blood loss to exceed 500cc.

We did the usually work up and asked if he had any other medical problems, to which he denied any additional medical issues. In the back of the ambulance, his pant legs had ridden up above his socks and I noticed a very foul smell and duct tape wrapped directly (no gauze) around both of his legs. I examined his legs and there was no doubt in my mind, both legs were severely infected and gangrenous. I was going to attempt to clean and dress the wounds, went to pull the duct tape away from the skin, which only caused large quantities of skin to slough off. I asked him how long ago he had used the duct tape; he said it was a month or more. I stopped, contacted the hospital, told them I believed the patient was septic, likely experiencing Toxic Shock Syndrome and it was halting any further attempts in the field to treat the wounds.

Upon arriving at the hospital, the ED Physician and Infectious Diseases Physician attended the patient, which eventually led to lengthy and complex surgery.

Duct tape is a great alternative to surgical tape, but be sure to thoroughly clean and dress the wound first.

Pete