Glueing cuts?

[treacle_beastie]

I am losing the will to live with my horse - her worst cut was scabbing over and I was up for turning her out after 4 weeks box rest this weekend but I put her in the school tonight as she wasnt interested in being hand grazed and after mooching around for a bit she just completely flipped out and let off steam (I know I shouldnt have let her off the lead rope!

) This resulted in her nicely healing wound being ripped right back open though round the edge of the scabby bit and is about 5mm deep and fresh tissue. (and also pulling her new shoe half off but thats another matter!). So It looks like I am back to square one and another 2/3 weeks box rest and to top it all i'm moving yard in 3 weeks so she needs to be fully healed by then! So back to my orginal post - can vets glue wounds back together and if so can they do this on 4 week old wounds? Whats the outcome - does it heal them faster? I will ring them for advice in the morning also but for those that dont know the wound is in her armpit so moves quite a lot!

 

[misst]

I would guess not -
In people if you close old wounds (more than a few hours) the skin edges have lost their blood supply so the wound does not "knit".
The wound your horse has opened is probably quite wide and will need to heal by secondary healing ie from the bottom up.
If you close a wound at the top but the tissue underneath leaves a gap or "dead space" the wound will break down again.
You would also need to consider antibiotic cover as you would be sealing in bacteria.
The vet may suture it after making the edges raw again if this is suitable. Glue would not really be strong enough.
I have assumed horses heal in the same way as people!!

 

[treacle_beastie]

Thanks - you make some very good points! I will speak to vet anyway to see if there is anything more I can do to speed recovery. I certainly wont be making the same mistake again and have given up hope of turning her out for the next couple of weeks!

 

[vatican]

Glueing cuts is definitely possible in fact Super Glue was invented for surgical use in the Vietnam war and most kids head wounds are glued in the hospital now rather than stitched. You can buy surgical super glue although its a bit more expensive than the ordinary super glue. I've managed to sucessfully glue quite a few wounds together after making sure that they were completely clean. The wound has to have fresh edges and the knack is to pull the wound together and to glue the hair across it rather than get the glue in the wound itself so that you literally close the wound with a matrix of hair across it. If there isn't enough hair then trim a bit off of the jawline, clean it with an antiseptic wipe, let it dry and then glue it across the cut. Once the cut is pulled tightly closed then put just a small drop of glue on it. It's advisable to have a tube of super glue remover just in case it all goes pear shaped!

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

It depends how wide the wound is
and also how loose the skin is on both sides
obv if its a wide wound with tight skin gluing won't be possible as the edges wont join!!! (hence cant glue together!)
Horses heal better left to naturally scab over, then skin growth underneath! Don't rush it, often wounds are left open to allow draining of the serum and body heals at the rate which allows the best wound healing (if that makes sense?)
I wouldn't try to rush it by gluing! just keep horsey with all 4 feet nice and calmly on the floor! (if possible!

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