The gel that stops bleeding instantly

This video is a bit gruesome, but it is demonstrating a remarkable substance that can stop bleeding almost instantaneously. Jack Millner of Humans Invent interviewed NYU student Joe Landolina, the creator of Veti-Gel.

"In all of our tests we found we were able to immediately stop bleeding,” says Landolina. “Your skin has this thing called the extracellular matrix,” he explains. “It’s kind of a mesh of molecules and sugars and protein that holds your cells in place.” Landolina synthesises his own extracellular matrix (ECM) using plant polymers, which can form a liquid when broken up into pieces. He says, “So it goes into the wound and the pieces of the synthetic ECM in the gel will recognise the pieces of the real ECM in the wound and they’ll link together. It will re-assemble into something that looks like, feels like and acts like skin."

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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bcsizemo

So this is what Gordon Freeman has inside his HEV suit…

morphine administered
- Halloween_Jack
  
  I was thinking of medi-gel (it even sounds the same) from the Mass Effect series, which is this plus a little anesthetic. Now all we need is an omni-tool, which is basically a wrist-mounted combination tricorder, smartphone, and miniature 3D printer…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5804767 Justin Levesque

hemophiliacs, rejoice!
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  External bleeding isn’t the problem there.
  - awjt
    
    “I’ll have a Venti Veti-Gel and Glenlivet, neat, thanks. Hurry.”
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5804767 Justin Levesque
    
    You’re talking to a hemo. It’s not THE number one problem. But it certainly can be an issue.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5804767 Justin Levesque
    
    nosebleeds, mouth bleeds, wisdom tooth extraction, cuts that ooze for days… the list goes on.
http://twitter.com/GideonTJones Gideon Jones

Quik-Clot’s a powder that’s been around for years and does the same thing. Our first aid kits have several packages, which I’ve thankfully never needed to use.

I gotta think a syringe full of gel is easier/faster than dumping a packet of powder into a wound though, right? Or maybe not with larger gushing wounds.
- Alexander Borsi
  
  I was wondering if anyone was going to mention this stuff, and I have had to use it at work and it works GREAT. Got a nice big long gash on the top of my arm when I was replacing some fluorescent light fixtures. I didn’t bend the S-hook into a closed shape before i moved to the other side, and it detached and it sliced down my arm as it fell. It wasn’t deep, but it was from top of my left hand all the way to my elbow. Bleeding like crazy, but not really in any pain I went and I washed off the wound (That hurt!) because the fixtures were dusty and then sprinkled on the powder. It truly was magic dust. It itched like the dickens though, might have been the fact that I am a fuzzy guy and it was clotting on hair. Don’t know. But it DOES work. And the pet stuff is good too for when your idiot cat decides to put her paw into the rat cage and the little adorable plauge bringers decides to bite the pad of the cat.. Yeah. That’s a $300 vet bill you don’t want when the packet is $20.
- That_Anonymous_Coward
  
  I might not be up to date on these things but I believed that Quik-Clot also caused a heat reaction that was not always pleasant.
  Did not see if they mentioned this in the description of the gel.
  
  I look forward to first hand stories to help clarify my understanding. I have a friend who could definitely use a product like this on hand without a high price point.
  - blueelm
    
    I think they changed the active ingredient in Quick Clot at some point. I know originally that it could burn people, but I don’t think this is the case anymore. I’m pretty sure now it uses kaolin (which incidentally is popular as a cosmetic clay). There’s basically no way that would burn you. It seems like it might be less effective though?
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13001904 Jeremy Sweeney
      
      yeah, they fixed that issue after enlisted dudes were getting contact burns. original active ingredient was this stuff called zeolites.
      - That_Anonymous_Coward
        
        Thank you, I knew I remembered something and its good to know things changed.
    - That_Anonymous_Coward
      
      Thank you.
  - traalfaz
    
    It’s been repackaged into a packet of the stuff now and apparently that mostly fixes the problem. From what I have read, the loose powder was not great especially in the military where you might have to dump it out where there are high winds (desert or nearby helicopter) and the stuff could blow into your eyes and burn.
- blueelm
  
  I *think* they work differently. Quick-Clot uses a mineral that helps clot blood and absorb water to stop bleeding.
Rex Runt

Can see this in every soldiers medical kit soon.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13001904 Jeremy Sweeney
  
  Hope so. The most recent update to QuikClot is pretty expensive.
Meiles02

And a quick mist over with the atomizer makes it all smell of lavender…
Kyle Sarrasin

Better living through chemistry?
JonS

The cheapskates version is just plain old sugar. Cut in your mouth while playinga contact sport? Chew some sugar. Cut on your arm? Spinkle some sugar.

It even comes in handy wound-sized sachets, which you can collect from any cafe :D Grab a couple and put them in your first aid kit.
BannedinDC

I wonder if they could use something like this in sports with bleeding, like boxing and mma fighting? Does it set fast enough to hold in place for the next round?
robuluz

Sooo…. that cow is going to be OK, right?
- http://www.facebook.com/dmaclennan2 Darren MacLennan
  
  No, Billy…Billy, that cow is going to cow heaven. Let me tell you all about what cow heaven is like.
  - That_Anonymous_Coward
    
    Damnit I thought we were going to go with the sent to a farm in the country story where the cow could frolic and enjoy wide open spaces….
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Would you like to know more?
http://profiles.google.com/george.herbert George Herbert

My concern – if you have a big arterial bleed, this may convert it to an internal bleed, which is still pretty serious. Loss rate may be lower into the body cavity, but you still need to get to a doctor and get the artery fixed.
- fuzzyfuzzyfungus
  
  The other potential for wacky fun(vanishingly unlikely to be a problem in the intended application, possibly more serious if misused) would be the formation of clots where clots aren’t supposed to be, either cutting off circulation to areas immediately downstream of the treated wound, or migrating merrily along until they get stuck somewhere else.
  
  Bleeding out is bad; but it isn’t for nothing that anticoagulants make the cut for the WHO ‘Essential Medicines’ lists.
- Cowicide
  
  One of the risks of using a bleeding edge technology.
- Vian Lawson
  
  I suspect if you’re bleeding from a big arterial bleed, this is a stop-gap rather than a total treatment. But it’ll let you survive long enough to get to a medic, at least.
http://dustindriver.com dustindriver

This is incredible. And I could’ve used this three weeks ago when I nearly sliced the tip of my ring finger off with my Wustof. Got three stitches. Still can’t feel the tip of my finger. But yeah, this is amazing.
- IronEdithKidd
  
  You may never have feeling in the end of that finger again. Nearly sliced a piece off a middle finger c. 1991, still can’t feel anything on that spot.
danegeld

We’re sure that the stooge operating the blood pump didn’t just turn it off at the right moment as the wound was filled with the syringe contents?
- ryuthrowsstuff
  
  That’s the sort of thing I’d be concerned with. The first handful of places I saw this pop up were alternative medicine or natural healing blogs and forums. Beyond that I haven’t seen any reference to legit scientific publications (haven’t really looked either) and anytime you see something reported by the press before academic journals it should raise red flags.
peregrinus

Can we encourage sharks to evolve to have this as saliva?
- chaopoiesis
  
  I’d rather they subsist on hummus.
http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns

The gel that stops bleeding instantly
“Sure the gel stopped bleeding, but what about the person?”
vv111y

There’s Celox too which doesn’t burn and has a syringe application option (besides bag of powder). Not sure if this is much better, but I assume it must be competitive or they wouldn’t have bothered.
ablebody

hockey. look up malarchuk. or zednik. (not for squeamish, seriously it’s a lot of blood). amazing stories. the doctors (one was a combat medic) who saved these guys were incredibly effective when the tension was high. but a product like this could be the difference for a player cut by a skate in the near future.
oasisob1

And it’s apparently food safe, so my backyard will be serving the freshest steaks ever from now on.