Question: When is Blood Clotting Powder not a Powder?

Answer: When it is Celox

Blood clotting powder is a term that we frequently hear when people are referring to hemostatic agents. However, Celox is not a powder and we avoid using the term clotting powder.  In this article we aim to explain why.

What is Clotting Powder?

Powder is generally a term used to describe a fine dusty mineral material and some of the original hemostatic agents were exactly this. These original clotting powders rely on absorbing water (and heating up) to form a hard ‘clump’ in the wound to stop bleeding. This can cause various problems, most notably it is very difficult to remove the material and debride the wound. The action of removing the clumped powder can re-open and often further traumatise the wound. Some hemostatic agents contain the mineral Kaolin, which is released as a nanoscale powder when it contacts fluid. The inorganic mineral powder particles can be left behind and remain in the body leading to complications.

Celox is not a Powder

Celox works very differently from these powdery hemostats. Celox are macroscopic granules or flakes of a highly purified natural organic material. When it comes into contact with the blood it swells and gels to form a soft gel like clot and no heat is generated. There are no inorganic powdery particles, the gelled Celox is easy to remove and any material left behind is naturally absorbed into the body and metabolised.

This is also gives Celox the advantage of working effectively in more challenging circumstances like cold conditions and on blood containing anticoagulants.

This video shows the difference when two types of hemostatic gauze are immersed and agitated in water. You can see that the competitor hemostatic gaze releases powdery particles into water leaving it cloudy while the Celox gauze leaves water clear.

Next Generation Haemostat

We hope this demonstrates that Celox offers ‘clear’ advantages over other clotting powders and in fact represents the next generation of agents to most effectively control severe bleeding.

I hope this post briefly explains why Celox clotting products are not blood clotting powders. We value your comments and questions and would like you to tell us about your experiences using Celox. Please do not hesitate to contact us by email or call us on: +44 (0)1270 500019 we will be happy to help or provide further information.