Adhesive tape stitches, from a prepper first aid kit; to close a significant wound!

This is a "how to" post on closing a wound with butterfly stitches, made from adhesive tape.
Adhesive tape stitches, from a prepper first aid kit; to close a significant wound!
While repairing a broken window at a rental house today I got Crossways with a five foot pane of glass. It cut the side my left little finger down to the nail bed, then the glass skidded along the nail leaving a skin flap.

Since skin flaps don't Stitch back down well, the only good option was the butterfly stitch. To keep this damage closed. The damage look like this:

When prepping we need to be ready to handle situations like this. I went to my first aid kit, to close the wound. I usually have butterfly stitches prepared ahead of time and taped on the inside of the first aid kit in the lid. But I didn't do that this time, so I had to cut the butterfly stitch with one hand. Here's what it looks like when you take a piece of adhesive tape and folded in half, and cut a butterfly stitch.

Notice that the cut it I actually taped it on my finger and then folded it and tape the back on the back of my finger. This way it's stable to cut and I can unfold it after the cutting is done.

Once cut, the butterfly stitch is unfolded and you end up with the final form. This final form it's taped across the damaged area just tight enough to hold the flap closed. Too much pressure at this stage will deprive the flap of blood flow and it won't heal!

Here is a properly applied butterfly stitch closing the skin flap. This butterfly stitch will be left on for about a week fill out healing to occur.

Once a butterfly stitch is applied you still need to protect, or cover the wound. You can use a Band-Aid, but with this level of damage I wanted a little more padding so I used some cotton gauze and tape. Before I applied this bandage, I applied lavender essential oil, and comfrey tincture to the wound to aid healing.

The bandage can be changed as needed to keep it clean and to check for infection. But the butterfly stitch must remain in place for at least a week. It is taking the place of suturing which doesn't work on a skin flap anyway. The final bandage and Butterfly will look like this:

Please note the roller bottles. These are from my first aid kit, and are the lavender oil and comfrey tincture.

In a week when the butterfly is removed be sure and strip the tape at 90 degrees to the wound. Take your time, and you pull it at right angles; across the wound. If it's pulled directly across the healing area, it sometimes opens it back up and you'll need to go through another week of healing!

Repairs (first aid) now will speed repairs after the SHTF situation occurs. Now is the time to start and get used to doing it while you still have a backup option. When things Crash and Burn is not the time to learn proper first aid techniques!

Stay safe, be blessed, and get ready for anything!