About Tissue Seal

The introduction of Histoacryl® in the late 1960s was a revolution for skin closure. The tissue adhesive made it possible to close small wounds without suturing. B. Braun was far ahead of its time with this product and became the market leader in many countries. Over 1000 publications reflect the continuing popularity and high level of acceptance of Histoacryl® as an alternative to sutures.

Simply stick wounds back together? The sensation this idea caused at its time is shown by an article in the “Bunte” magazine, which on 10.11.1970 reported on an adhesive developed in the USA, which would “possibly be available as soon as next year”. In the USA it was above all the Vietnam War with its overcrowded field hospitals that had driven researchers to develop a fast, uncomplicated and at the same time effective wound closure method. What the “Bunte” did not know: by that time there had already long been just such a wound adhesive on the German market: Histoacryl.

“Bunte” readers were soon to learn this too. Dr. Bernd Braun replied in a reader´s letter: “Our company began developing a wound adhesive in 1964. [¨] The adhesive came under the provisional name “Histocoll” to clinical trials, about which a whole series of reports was published. At the same time our company organized several symposia on the continually expanding area of application, amongst them the large international symposium “Klebstoffe in der Chirurgie” (“Adhesives in Surgery”), which took place in Vienna in September 1967.” The Kassel Symposium in February 1968 was also dedicated to “The Use of Adhesives in Medicine” and the experiences reported were documented in a special volume of the “Melsunger Medizinischen Mitteilungen” (“Melsungen Medical News”). Dr. Braun continued: “It was at this time that our tissue adhesive received its definitive name “Histoacryl”, under which it was introduced onto the medical market early in 1968. Since then our wound adhesive has become one of the well-known and indispensable surgical resources in medical institutions in Germany and abroad.”

And that is still true today. An Internet search engine experiment demonstrates the popularity of Histoacryl®. The results list points to hundreds of websites from many different countries, most of which carry reports on clinical tests or university investigations – all extremely positive.

The properties and advantages of Histoacryl® remain undisputed: there are no needle holes, the wound can be closed more quickly and there is no subsequent removal of sutures. Moreover, the tissue adhesive has a high mechanical strength and achieves excellent cosmetic results.

Tissue Seal was formed in 2002 by four members that have over 120 years’ experience in the medical device industry. In 2002, Tissue Seal partnered with B.Braun Europe, to gain FDA regulatory clearance to bring Histoacryl Topical Skin adhesives to the US market. At that time, topical skin adhesives were considered a prescription drug and required Pre-Market Approval to commercialize the product. The process took nearly four years to gain the necessary approvals for Histoacryl Clear and Histoacryl Blue and entered commercial distribution in the US in March of 2007. Since that time, Tissue Seal has sold over 10 million ampoules of topical skin adhesive and has been used by many leading medical centers in the US.

In December 2019, Tissue Seal entered into agreement with B.Braun to take over sales and distribution of their suture product portfolio. In 2020, Tissue Seal is marketing and distributing the full line of B.Braun closure products in the US out of the Tissue Seal ISO 13485 certified, sales and distribution center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.