I had the misfortune of getting into a physical altercation with an inanimate object last Thursday. I slashed a piece of flesh off of my knuckle the size of a pencil eraser head. I knew as soon as it happened that it was going to bleed for a long time, and would take forever to heal because the injury was on a knuckle. I didn’t have a whole lot of stuff on hand the day of the injury, so I put a flexible cloth generic Band-Aid on it and called it a day. Despite double-wrapping it in clear packing tape, I managed to bleed clean through the Band-Aid and smear the inside of the tape a nice, pale pink.

I went to the grocery store the day after, hoping to buy some Neosporin and perhaps something a little more heavy-duty. I happened upon an official Band-Aid liquid bandage product. I have heard of this type of topical treatment before. Apparently trauma docs were using Super Glue as a quick way to seal up a wound. Apparently the Band-Aid version is “medical grade.” I discovered while researching this article that there are little, if any, differences between the “medical grade” and “commercial grade” glues. I was considering buying the Band-Aid version, but it only had like ten applications for just under eight dollars. I reached for some more generic flexible cloth bandages when I saw the New-Skin Liquid Bandage product hidden a few shelves down.

For $2.99 I bought “forty applications,” which seemed like a bargain compared to the Band-Aid product even if the New-Skin guys were full of shit. I bought a tube of Neosporing and a bottle of the New-Skin.

I headed home a little faster than usual. I was eager to try out this liquid bandage concept. The packaging mentioned that I shouldn’t use it to close deep wounds, large wounds, that type of shit. My wound seemed to be in the acceptable treatment size. I got a little nervous when the instructions said I could remove the New-Skin with nail polish remover. I shrugged and then unscrewed the top to the small glass bottle. There was a brush attached to the cap, and I painted on a thin layer of New-Skin. It smelled exactly like nail polish.

Nothing happened. I waited five seconds or so, and it started to sting. A pretty good sting, to boot. That lasted for about ten seconds or so, and then the New-Skin hardened. It formed a little protective shell over my wound, and I pretty much didn’t give it a second thought until much later in the day. Per the instructions, I applied another layer of the liquid bandage a few hours later.

It wasn’t until the third day of my treatment that I noticed a drawback to the liquid skin concept. The liquid skin is waterproof and pretty resilient. So after a few shellackings I had developed quite a buildup. It made my wound look infected, and some of the liquid skin had cracked. It looked like a reptile, right before it’s about to shed. I picked the layers off during a conference call.

I was amazed at how quickly my knuckle had healed. I would have expected a lot more re-opening of the wound if I had just used Neosporin and Band-Aids alone. I am super impressed with the New-Skin liquid bandage, even with the stinging and the build-up. At $3 or less per bottle, I’m thinking about buying a few more to keep on hand and stuff into first aid kits.

New-Skin Antiseptic Liquid Bandage, I glue up
Five out of five STFU mugs!