In anticipation of the upcoming Whistler snowboarding trip, I wanted to update my first aid kit. I have heard of these coagulating products from reports coming back form the sandbox. For heavy trauma, even arterial bleeding, this stuff forces the leaking blood to coagulate and form a mass. The blood flow in adjacent tissue is unaffected, so there are none of the necrotizing effects associated with tourniquets. For amputations, a tourniquet would be required, but for nearly anything less, packing on coagulating agent seems to be the best course of action to stop the bleeding while the victim is being transported to a medical facility. Bigger hole = more packs of coagulant.
There were reports of uncomfortable levels of heat generated by the exothermic reaction in early generations of coagulating products, but this is less of an issue with current products. Supposedly, the new formula will get warm, but not beyond the temperature of a fever. I haven’t empirically tested this, and I hope I don’t have to.
This form factor of the product is a 9x9cm bag/sponge containing 25g or coagulating agent. There is also a 50g size available. The heavy-gauge vacuum-sealed plastic outer packaging is about 12cm square and has starter notches to assist in opening. I found that although necessary, the notches tended to catch on the mesh pockets inside my Tactical Tailor modular medic pouch. I’ll put it inside a zipper-type freezer bag later to eliminate this issue.
For you ‘Oahu folk, you can find it at Sports Authority in Waikele for a rather pricey $13 USD plus tax. The Kapolei location did not have it, and I didn’t check the Ward Avenue location. None of the Long’s/CVS stores I checked had it, nor did the Kapolei Target pharmacy. It is available online at places like REI for less than $10, so if you can get some kind of “free shipping” deal, you can get them that way for less.
Not yet field tested
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