(2/18/99)

On ER tonight, George Clooney's character, Dr. Ross, was treated with a glue stick which closes wounds without sutures.

In his case, it was a facial wound from an accident. His colleagues on the show used a special glue stick called Dermabond.

The show, of course, was fiction. But the glue stick is real, and doctors here in Utah are using it. Science Specialist Ed Yeates reports from Primary Children's Hospital ER.

Primary ER doctors are now using the wound glue or adhesive about two to three times a week. But when summer arrives and the injury rate goes up - they expect to use it everyday.

While the compound is compatible with skin, it has the sticking power of super glue. Doctors hold the wound together and simply rub the adhesive over the closure. The bond is instant.

Dr. Jeff Schunk, M.D., says, "We use it in wounds that we would suture otherwise for cosmetic or other reasons, but that aren't so large that the glue will still be able to maintain a good hold."

Seven-year-old Shaliese Gramoll was playing at home Monday. She fell and hit her head on the corner of a table.

The wound above her eye was deep but not wide. Doctors at Primary decided to glue it closed.

Sharla Gramoll, Shaliese's mother, says, "It was just like a super glue and they just held it together and it would just peel off in seven to ten days. And as far as they could tell, the scarring was probably less minimal than the suturing."

For facial wounds which are not wide or gaping, ER docs tend to favor the adhesive. And for children, glueing a wound together is less traumatic than a needle and thread.

For Shaliese, there was no pain, no stinging, only... "It felt like it was watery and runny."

"These products, coupled with our topical anasthetics, have in some cases eliminated the need to use needles at all," Doctors say.

Ironically, wound glue was developed by the military 30 years ago. But it took a long time to hit the commerical market.

It still won't work for large wounds. And like the hand of the stitcher, if the wound is not held together carefully while the glue is applied, it will leave a scar.

Physicians have to be careful applying the stuff. A few have found their fingers stuck to the patient's skin.

And like Shaliese's cut above the eye, ER doctors have to make sure the glue doesn't get in the eye.