SCIENCE, PRACTICE AND EDUCATION DOI: 10.35279/jowm2022.23.02.07 Comparison of a cyanoacrylate liquid skin protectant to skin closure strips for the treatment of injury-related Type I skin tears in elderly patients Rosemary H. Hill , BSN, CWOCN, WOCC(C) a and Stephen L. Smith, PhD b a Vancouver Coastal Health, Lions Gate Hospital, North Vancouver, BC, Canada b Medline Industries LP, Northfield, IL, USA Correspondence: Rosemary.hill@vch.ca · Conflict of interest: None Keywords: Cyanoacrylate liquid skin, skin closure strips, Type 1 skin tears, wound closure, wound healing ABSTRACT Background A skin tear is a defined as a wound caused by shear, friction or the result of blunt force. Injury-related Type 1 skin tears are more frequent in elderly pa- tients, due to their more fragile and vulnerable skin. ditional homecare nursing and dressing care. The three patients treated first with SCS followed by CLSP experienced a delay in wound healing; however, when the SCS were removed and CLSP was applied at 1–3 days, wound healing still occurred within 1–2 weeks of the CLSP application. Aim We compared a cyanoacrylate liquid skin protectant (CLSP) to skin closure strips (SCS) for Type 1 skin tear closure and healing in 14 elderly patients. Methods Eight patients received CLSP alone, three patients received SCS alone and three others received SCS followed by CLSP. Results For the eight patients treated with CLSP alone, the skin tear flaps annealed almost immediately and were completely closed within 1–3 days. All skin tears were healed within 1–2 weeks of CLSP application. By contrast, for the three cases that were treated with SCS alone, the skin tears remained open for as long as 10 days and required 3–4 weeks to heal. This resulted in prolonged bleeding, delayed skin tear wound healing, re-opening of the skin tear, ad- Conclusions A CLSP alone is an effective treatment for injury- related Type I skin tears in elderly patients. Implications for clinical practice The use of CLSP decreased the time and costs re- quired for skin tear wound care and reduced the time to wound healing. INTRODUCTION A skin tear is defined as a wound caused by shear or friction resulting in the separation of the epidermis from the dermis (partial-thickness) or separation of both the epidermis and dermis from the underlying subcutaneous tissue (full-thickness). 1,2 The incidence of injury-related skin tears is frequently caused by falls in elderly patients and is due to mechanical forces such as shearing, blunt trauma, poor handling, equipment injury or the removal of adherent band- ages. 3 Historically, the Payne-Martin system has been 99 JOURNAL OF WOUND MANAGEMENT OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN WOUND MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
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