Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board First Aid Kit Expiration Dates

HI !

It is getting to be that time of the year when many of us are dusting off the backpacks, and getting ready to head out into the Great Outdoors.

I just wanted to remind everyone to check their First Aid kit before you head out the door.

Many of the contents of your Fist Aid kit may have an expiration date. I happened to need a couple of Wound Wipes out of mine last year, and they were past the expiration date. WELL past. And though sealed, they were completly dry. So this is just a reminder to take a look and see what you may need to replace before you go on your next great adventure.

Here are some of the things in your Kit that may have an expiration date on them:

Ibuprofen/Acetaminophen
Alcohol Wipes
Hand Cleaner
Insect bite Wipes
Antibiotic Ointment
Hydrogen Peroxide
Instant Cold Packs
Sun Screen
Burn Ointment
Iodine Solution
Benadryl
Prescription Meds
Hydro-Cortizone cream.

You may have others as well.

Be safe out there, and may you not need to use any of these items on your next trip !!

do things like alcohol wipes or santizer wipes actually 'expire' if they are in a sealed package? i've heard too that medicines will lose some potency but still be at least somewhat effective up to about 6mos after the exp date (in other words it isn't unsafe to take them). anyone know any more about it?

=) tif

Dusting off, Scottie Mac?

I've pulled out many an old alcohol wipe and have it be completely dried out, so yes, they need to be replaced. I usually carry a few of those, but I've also started to carry a few wipes known as "skin prep" pads. After a wound has been cleaned, the pad is wiped around the periphery, away from the edges. It makes the skin a little sticky so that bandages will have more of a chance of staying in place.

I also just found single-use containers of crazy glue, and carry a few butterfly strips.

I haven't gone to get a snake-bite kit yet...

An interesting and somewhat related note...

A bit of personal experience while working my way through college as a pharmacy technician: every pharmacist I ever worked with agreed wholeheartedly with the substance of this article. Most drugs, especially the OTC stuff, will last years beyond the stated expiration date, with almost full potency. The few exceptions that suffer a chemical breakdown and truly lose their potency quickly (or morph into something else) are typically light- or heat-sensitive products.

That being said, I still replace almost everything in my FA kit each spring, as well as sunscreen, lip balm and the other stuff in my pack falling into the "manufactured chemical product for personal use" category. Same reason I always filter water in the wild (yes, even in the Sierra): I want to BE SURE that if I ever really need something in the backcountry, it's in the best possible state. Twenty bucks a year will replace most expirable stuff in a FA kit, so why quibble?

if you leave meds in your car in the Owens Valley in summer even for a few hours, you may cook them.

Expiration date is invalidated when typical safe temp max of 86F is exceeded. This of course is most important for prescription drugs.

crazy glue is a fantastic idea i hadn't thought of before. thanks!!

where do you find the 'single use' tubes of it?

I actually found them in the checkout line at KMart the other day.

awesome... i'll be on the lookout! thanks!

I am not an expert, but I've read that you need to be cautious, depending on the wound depth. Here's one of many postings.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/treatinginjuries/a/supergluecuts.htm

I would be interested to hear from the WPSMB medical experts on when it's appropriate to use.

Thanks.

There are medical grade bonding agents, which are sterile, and there are off-the-shelf unsterilized items of similar properties. The difference? Staphylcoccus. I have an aquaintance who has been out of work for 3 months due to staph, and the medical staFF treating him strongly suspect that he acquired the infection from his repeated use of over-the-counter Super Glue (as a solution for his chronically cracked hand skin.)

PS I am not a medical expert

I'd say the skin itself is by far the likely source of germs, especially staph, than the choice of hardware-store vs medical grade glue. Either way, the glue is meant only for short-term use.

.... but this will probably end up as a suit against the manufacturers of Super Glue, regardless of the fact that "repeated use for cracked hands" does NOT fall under the category of manufacturer's intended uses. Sad.

Just commenting on the issue of wound closure:

the details matter.

I'm not a big dermabond fan, although I've used it a couple of hundred times.

However, there is this huge obsession with closing a wound, which is wrong. If I got a laceration in the wild, I would not dermabond it, or suture it, even if I had the gear.

Understand that these approaches are intended to be used either in a situation where the wound is created in a sterile environment (such as an operating room), or in which the wound can be so thoroughly cleansed as to be essentially sterile. This is not possible in the field, generally.

A FAR better approach is to
1. control bleeding
2. flush with huge amounts of water (like, 1-2 gallons), preferrably with pressure (like pouring it from a foot or two above)
3. gently apply soap of any kind to the area, then copiously re-flush.
4. Leave the wound open covered with clean material, or simply closed with bandaids--change several times a day.

Why all this concern? Infection of a wound is dramatically enhanced if a wound is closed with any foreign matterial present, like dirt. An infected would is far, far more difficult to manage in the field.

A small irrigation syringe is a great thing to have in a first aid kit for the purpose of flushing a wound. Another thing that can work in a pinch is a zip lock bag filled with water. Poke a small hole in the bag and squeeze it to force the water through the hole. This doesn't work as well as a syringe but does a decent job.