Applicator for cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive.

Cyanoacrylate tissue adhesive (CTA) is very useful for emergency treatment of corneal perforations. Lack of Food and Drug Administration approval as well as concerns about toxicity from the application of large amounts of glue, however, have limited its use. It is difficult to apply a sufficiently small amount of glue or to achieve a water tight seal using published techniques of glue application. We have found a commercially available micropipette (used in dental work) to be more effective than other methods of CTA application. With this apparatus, precise and accurate placement of minimal amounts of CTA at the slit lamp is consistently possible.