homemade butterfly bandages

frankie was dancing around being frankie when she stepped on a piece of cardboard on the laminate floor. the result was much the same as a banana peel. her chin opened up. i texted aunt margaret(sister/pediatrician/superwoman) the above pic and she said she'd need stitches. frankie was exhausted- it was 10:30 at night after a full day and i hated to haul her to the ER for a 2 hour wait and stitches so i also texted aunt kathy(sister/children's hospital ER RN) to ask her how to make butterfly bandages. i didn't want to have to get stitches but i didn't want her to have an open gaping wound that would heal into an open big puffy chin scar either.

she texted the following pictures...

cut the pad off so you have just the end of the bandaid, the sticky portion with a tab of non-stick backing on it still.

then cut length wise up through the whole bandage- leaving on the tab bc you'll need to peel it away easily.

tack it to the top of the wound, pull down ( i had to pinch her chin a bit to pull the skin together) and then tack down the bandage to the bottom of the wound. it works kind of like a staple.

she also said that she knew an ER doc that superglued a gash in his daughter's head and then tied a tight knot with some local hair to close it while they were away in the mountains. she said she wouldn't suggest it because superglue has toxins in it. all i know is that i am going to stock up on durabond next time i am in mexico. that stuff should be OTC.

here she is, snoozing happily with her homemade butterfly steristrips.

i had to replace the bandage often. she is such an active kid, drools alot, and is a sloppy drinker so whenever it got wet it became loose. she even fell and reopened it at about 3 or 4 days out of the original accident.

and here she is a week and a half later-what a pretty chin:)

edited to add that she busted her chin 2 years later and here is that post. I have to include a bit of a warning when making homemade butterfly bandages- definitely use a bandage that you know you aren't sensitive to. she had a reaction to the ones we used in 2013. that being said- she healed up just fine once her skin calmed down.