Repair of cutaneous wounds with the use of low cost surgical glue

background: the advantages of the cyanoacrylates in cutaneous synthesis have been often demonstrated in the literature. however, these products have been underutilized in brazil due to the high costs of the 2-octil-cyanoacrylate. besides, few studies have been done with the more economically accessible form, the 2-etil-cyanoacrylate, as a cutaneous tissue adhesive. objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of the closing of cutaneous lesions using eca. method: this was a prospective study in which 46 wounds were occluded using the low cost eca as an alternative to intradermal suture. results: excisions (97,8%) and traumatic wounds (2,2%) were treated with 2-etil-cyanoacrylate and deep relaxed sutures as synthesis method. unaesthetic scars (22%), infection (2,1%), dehiscence (2,1%) and contact allergic dermatitis (2,1%) were the problems we found. there were no cases of necrosis or keloids. the results were considered satisfactory in most cases (97,3%). conclusion: the use of 2-etil-cyanoacrylate was shown to be safe and with satisfactory cosmetic results in this group of patients.