In the medical world, we call it “cyanoacrylate”, and we very much use it for wound closure (especially after pacemaker insertions). It just costs a lot more than the regular stuff, because… Um… Reasons
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With you, here in the U.S. I get it. I’ve been having to cope, for years. As long as we’re talking about what to stock in our first aid bags:
Israeli compression bandage aka “Israeli bandage” or “Israeli ace bandage” etc. Can be properly administered using one hand if necessary. Maybe you already have one of these.
If you want to cheap out a bit…
… then just use a clean ACE bandage and a clean wimmin’s menstrual pad (that adhesive strip is actually pretty useful too). This approach will lack the big plastic-y tourniquet-like thing in the video that the official Israeli bandage has. If you require a sterile dressing, spend the money and get the real, shrink-wrapped (sterilized) deal.
I sense a wad of clean packing pressed against the wound site would probably at least partially address some stress. And the shear stress that @anon55609254 mentions is spot-on. I believe the old butterfly still wins in that case, and it packs flatter so you can carry more.
I also sense that Zipstitch is probably not ideal if the patient is not being kept still/inactive.
The zip-tie profile seems like an excellent collector of debris and detritus. Maybe best used underneath a larger dressing that can seal out dirt, if one is using this in the field.
Still, if one is traveling alone, is injured, Zipstitch could likely be administered one-handed, clumsily. It’s really hard to do butterfly bandages well using a single hand.
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I have wanted to ask this for a while now: if one has to choose cyanoacrylate as the last possible way to stem a big bloody injury, and if the injured person then has to go to hospital etc., is there some sort of dissolver of the cyanoacrylate ordinarily kept on hand in order to open and clean (or reclean) the wound?
Hoping you may be able to answer from the medical world…
For the record, crazy glue and medical cyancrolate are not the same thing. I’m not totally sure if there is a significant difference.
Additionally, some wounds are best left open. Which ones? No idea.
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My understanding (Er nurse) is no. I’ve never seen that. Maybe in a wilderness area someone might know.
If the injury was big and bloody enough, probably tourniquet and call 911. Squirting crazy glue all over them is probably not going to be helpful.
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reasons
But the veterinary stuff is the same thing 
(and because we’re poorer, and can’t afford as much, the price point for a tube, while still expensive, is nowhere near as bad)
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Wounds should be sutured for three reasons:
1 - to stop bleeding
2 - to prevent infection
3 - aesthetics
In general, there are two type of wound healing - primary and secondary intention. Primary intention means the wound heals from the bottom up (using a ‘spherical cow’ type wound here). Secondary intention is when you close the wound, which speeds healing because the edges aren’t being pulled apart,and helps keep new bacteria from getting into the wound.
Some wounds can Not be closed because closing them greatly increases the risk of infection. These include many puncture wounds (hard to rinse clean), some dog bites bc of tooth punctures, many human bites (just very hard to clean and often puncutres, not tearing), and wounds that have been open for too long timewise.
Suturing can pretty much always be done after 12 hours. Nearing 24 hours there’s some grey area.
You can use three steri-strips to make something like this product - two parallel to the wound, and one to draw the two strips together. The product looks pretty slick - IF you clean the wound well first. If not, you are closing dirt into your wound. It may work great to stop bleeding and get you to a point that you can wash out the wound, though - especially if it can be applied with your non-dominant hand.
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There’s a guy here in Kansas City trying to do something similar. His solution allows the doctor to stitch between anchor points on adhesive strips, which takes care of the vertical shear others here have mentioned. It also allows for changing the angle for cuts that aren’t in a straight line. Pretty awesome setup, I thought, but he doesn’t seem to have anything available yet. Here’s the announcement of his placement at a startup competition this time last year (see “Zitches”).
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I can think of a few mouths that could use these. zip it. 
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Thank you, Paul, for your insight.
I am grateful.
I have been out of touch with a friend who is a certified wilderness emergency medical technician.* He travels all over the place, all the time, and catching him within communications range takes patience and repetition. He has been my question-answerer sporadically. Thank you for stepping in.
It is true that in the U.S. those of us who are short on money have had to educate ourselves on health matters, including first aid. My family, the family dog, etc. have all had been part of my learning curve. I have had to consult various sometimes outdated first aid handbooks many times prior to advent of The Internet, to get urgent questions answered, including whether or not a trip to the emergency room is warranted. This is an awful choice to have to make, and to have to make quickly.
And uh, yeah, I have used crazy glue on the family dog. Reluctantly. With the veternarian’s permission. Only every few years, for the same set of injuries, repeatedly. So far, so good.
*He once taught me that an indelible ink marker can be useful because one can scribble name, contact, allergies, status, etc. on the skin of clients he's taken out of the river, off a mountain, etc. while the clients are still conscious enough to provide information, before the med-evac helicopter or ambulance takes them away.
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Excellent info, thanks!
I knew about the kinds of wounds you mention, but have heard differing opinions about how the time clock starts and when it’s too dang late to close up some kinds of open wounds.
I like the function of Israeli bandage in an emergency because it does address reasons 1 and 2. And using it requires no sutures so it’s easier to “undo” if necessary.
I hear you about cleaning the wound site as much as possible. Irrigation irrigation irrigation.
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Yeah, that’s right. I guess my black arrows were resulting force vectors. Or something.
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Cyanoacrylate glue is actually a family of adhesives, and the one you get at the hardware store is different from most of the medical versions. The medical kinds are probably just as cheap to make as the industrial kinds (I have no real idea) but they do have to be manufactured with increased purity and attention to additives which, in the industrial kinds, may not be good for you. Then it has to go through the FDA ($$).
One problem with it (if I remember right) is that, as it degrades in the body, it creates formaldehyde (of one sort or another) in amounts that might not be healthy. So using hardware store stuff on your skin may not be the best idea, especially in a large wound. But I can see why someone might want to use it in an emergency.
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To the best of my knowledge, simple acetone (AKA nail polish remover) dissolves all cyanoacrylate compounds.
There’s others, of course, and I don’t know which one we keep specifically on hand for that, but any ER doc that’s been around for more than 5 minutes has dealt with someone doing something hilario… I mean, unfortunate, with superglue.
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Oh ok. Nail polish remover is easy to find. Thanks!
Obligatory:
(in which the bad guy who sets up Bryan Brown’s character is finally too clever by half)
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Hey, that was a great link, thanks! I didn’t know either of these things:
When cyanoacrylate glues are placed in contact with cotton or other fabrics, it can lead to a rapid exothermic reaction which can cause burns. This is is felt to be less of a problem with medically produced tissue adhesive glues
Over the counter cyanoacrylate glues tend to be more brittle and apt to crack compared with medically produced ones, which are made intentionally more flexible to accommodate the dynamic movements of the skin.
If something needs stitching and there’s no qualified experts handy, I’ve always used butterfly bandaids, or sterilized regular sewing thread as a last resort, but the latter method leaves ugly scars. I think I’ll get some vet glue and put it in the kit!
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If you can handle stitching yourself, get some 6-0 to 8-0 nylon on a cutting needle, and you’re good to go. Also, a pair of olsen hegar needle holders (they’ve got a suture cutting scissor bit that makes them really convenient).
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