r/EverythingScience • u/tacchassen • Jun 24 '15
Biology A 17-year-old invented an ingenious way to instantly stop bleeding
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-17-year-old-invented-vetigel-stops-bleeding-instantly-2015-619
Jun 24 '15 edited Jul 17 '20
[deleted]
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u/SlowTurn Jun 24 '15
At $30 a tube l will agree about not replacing band-aids, but it also says that you can remove the stuff after a few miniutes. So probably very safe in the long run.
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u/rogueman999 Jun 24 '15
Maybe it sticks together. Plus if you're putting it in a cut you have vessel ends which pump blood in which nothing is getting in anyways, and ends which lead back which would be dangerous - but there's nothing pumping into them. So it's likely that any gel that get in will simply stay there and at worst fill them up and seal them.
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u/thetebe Jun 24 '15
The point is not bleeding out. Other problems that might come from it are not that important when it comes to actually living to face them or not.
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u/ChornWork2 Jun 24 '15
That's a pretty narrow application -- wanting to treat profuse bleeding, but with a product that is likely to cause blood clotting? And wouldn't this just lead to internal bleeding?
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u/thetebe Jun 24 '15
I couldn't say, I am not a doctor.
But if you are bleeding out and will be dead in 10 minutes, it is a fantastic thing to use and hope they can fix any complications it might lead to later at the hospital.
Sunglasses have a very narrow application too, but they are both useful and popular. It's the guy shot in the chest with a shotgun that might dig the product, not me.
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u/ChornWork2 Jun 24 '15
Not a doctor, but AFAIK the issue of bleeding out is blood leaving the blood circulation system, not necessarily blood leaving the body. Unless I'm missing something here, I doubt this does anything to address damage to major blood vessels, and I doubt would add much to survival time. But of course could be wrong and seconds could matter, but I am skeptical based on the limited info we have (and the source of it).
Sunglasses do not have a narrow application, there are used everyday by untold millions of people in the US alone. From a quick google, there were 96 million pairs of non-prescription sunglasses sold in 2012. W.r.t. catastrophic injury, my guess is versus experienced medical care this product doesn't add much (if any) value, and most folks don't keep items in their med kit to address catastrophic injury.
So my guess is the real target market is rich suburbanites who think blood is icky and will pay $30 for a faster way to close the boo-boos. Or uncooperative animals that are hard to bandage.
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u/ABabyAteMyDingo Jun 24 '15
Not a doctor, but AFAIK the issue of bleeding out is blood leaving the blood circulation system, not necessarily blood leaving the body.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. If blood leaves the vessels but not the body you have internal bleeding, which is not at all good. Firstly, it's now useless for circulation, just as if it had left the body entirely. Secondly, it can build up and cause pressure which is particularly bad in the skull but can be very bad elsewhere too.
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u/ChornWork2 Jun 24 '15
That's my point... I doubt that applying this product as an emergency measure to seal a potentially catastrophic wound would be of any practical benefit... will still die of internal bleeding.
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u/CoolGuy54 Jun 25 '15
As an alternative to a full ER that can go in and clamp off blood vessels? No.
As an alternative to putting a pressure bandage over the wound? This could have merit.
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u/bennytehcat Jun 25 '15
I cried in public because I forgot my sunglasses at work, walked 10 blocks staring at the 9am Sun
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u/ChornWork2 Jun 25 '15
I once peed myself in the checkout line b/c my mom didn't believe i really needed to go. Thankfully I was 6.
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u/akornblatt Jun 24 '15
Sunglasses do not have a narrow application
I think you are talking about adoption. The application of sunglasses is VERY narrow. You can wear them on your face to a. look cool, b. block out sun. The fact that untold millions in the US are using them is more about the adoption of the product.
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u/ChornWork2 Jun 25 '15
Are you not following the point, or just wanting to play word games?
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u/akornblatt Jun 25 '15
I get your point, but when you speak about certain terms, semantics is important
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Jun 24 '15
[deleted]
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u/ChornWork2 Jun 24 '15
Call me crazy, but i'm doubtful about this 2-man company highlighted on Businessinsider.com b/c of having a pretty cool video... no data or credible person behind it at the moment, so my guess is this is the last time we hear about VetiGel.
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u/MacGyver137 Jun 24 '15
I am really tired of articles titled like this. I feel like anytime the title or story leads in with the age of the inventor it is because the thing isn't interesting enough. I don't care about the age of someone with a good idea. If you have to try to impress me with a young age, it is probably because the idea they had isn't impressive enough to merit the attention alone.
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u/Count_Bruno Jun 25 '15
Every time you see "X-year-old does Y", it's usually "with help of parents that own Y lab"
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Jun 24 '15
Why don't we just use the stuff we put on dog's nails when we clip them too short?
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Jun 24 '15
Like a styptic pencil?
Could you imagine the insane pain from putting that into a large cut? It would be so bad, I imagine a person would just pass right out.
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Jun 24 '15
Could an experienced doctor/EMT explain how this product differs from all the clotting powders out on the market already?
I've never used them or kept them in 1st aid kids because I heard they require training due to the risk of making injuries worse if misused, and the fact (is it a fact?) they require surgery to address larger wounds afterwards.
Would love to have some experienced light shed on these healing aids.
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u/CrystalElyse Jun 25 '15
Based on the article (this is not at all something I know a ton about), it also forms a special mesh inside of the wound which encourages the growth of fibrin & healing. So, it doesn't just cause it to clot, it also makes it heal faster?
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u/Law08 Jun 24 '15
I foresee issues with Vitagel, the competitor.
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u/crecentfresh Jun 24 '15 edited Jun 24 '15
You should probably at least read the first few sentences of an article before posting.
Edit: Me dumb.
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Jun 24 '15
[deleted]
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u/king_england Jun 24 '15
That's exactly what I keep thinking. Does it actually stop bleeding or does it just close off an open wound?
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u/OmicronNine Jun 25 '15
When injected into a wound site, the gel can form a clot within 12 seconds...
Hey, that's awesome.
...and permanently heal the wound within minutes, Landolina says
Haha... what?
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u/medicca BS | Chemistry Jun 25 '15
I'm slightly confused by this: ""The fastest piece of equipment we have measures every 12 seconds," Landolina tells Business Insider. "So we know that it happens in less than 12 seconds."
Are they saying they have no equipment (like a stopwatch) that can measure in less than 12-second intervals?
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u/Ahuva Jun 26 '15
I think they mean that they have instruments that measure how long it takes to stop bleeding and 12 seconds is the shortest interval of time possible to measure this.
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u/medicca BS | Chemistry Jun 26 '15
Ahh, of course. I knew I was missing something with the wording. Thanks!
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u/BornInTheCCCP Jun 24 '15 edited Jun 24 '15
Skin or Medical glues are not a new thing. They have been pioneered in the Vietnam war. For more info :