Some cuts on the face heal on their own, but others need to be fixed. Sometimes health care providers fix cuts with skin glue instead of stitches. The glue will fall off on its own in 5–10 days. A healing cut can get infected, so the health care provider cleaned it carefully. You can help to prevent infection by taking good care of the cut as it heals.

• Don't let your child take baths or swim for a week.
• When your child showers, there is no need to cover the cut, but try not to let the showerhead spray directly onto it. After showering, gently pat skin dry.
• Don't put any kind of ointment on the cut. Ointment can dissolve the skin glue.
• You can use a bandage if the health care provider tells you to. Make sure the tape doesn't stick to the glue.
• To prevent infection, your child shouldn't pick at the glue or at the scab that forms over the cut.
• When you or your child apply sunscreen, be sure to put it on the scar (after the glue has fallen off). This will help protect it from burning and prevent it from getting darker.
• Make sure your child's tetanus vaccine is up to date.
• Have a follow-up visit with your child's health care provider as recommended.

• Your child has redness, warmth, or swelling around the cut. This could be the start of an infection.
• Red streaks are coming from the cut.
• Pus is draining from the cut.
• The edges of the cut start to separate.
• The medical glue comes off before the cut has healed.
• Your child develops pain or a fever.

The cut:

• starts bleeding and doesn't stop, even after you apply light pressure
• opens up

What happens when a cut fixed with skin glue heals? Skin glue holds the edges of a cut together while it heals and helps protect the cut from infection. Slight redness or itchiness around the cut is normal. After 5–10 days, the cut should be healed and the glue will fall off on its own.

Why does a cut get a scar? When the deeper layer of the skin is injured, the body uses a protein (collagen) to help fill in the cut area. The filled-in area becomes a scar. A scar will form even if a cut is fixed with skin glue. Over time, some scars fade or get smaller.