The kaolin formula apparently generated so much heat it could cause 2nd degree burns in the patient.
http://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/2mx653/this_gel_can_st...
http://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/2mx653/this_gel_can_st...
It's confusing because the brand name has remained the same, but QuikClot is no longer offered as a powder. Instead is sold as a pre-impregnated gauze: http://www.quikclot.com/Products
In addition to changing from powder to gauze, the active ingredient was also changed. Contrary to the parent, it was the earlier zeolite that could cause burns. The current kaolin formulation is (advertised as?) non-exothermic.
As one of the other posters in this thread said, the 2013 formulation is impregnated dry gauze. It worked very quickly to stop the bleeding with no heat--the top left of the package, in fact, is labeled "heat free."
We ended up going to the Palo Alto Medical Center's urgent care clinic and they applied glue instead of stitches because of the lacerations' proximity to the fingernail. The nurse was surprised I had QuikClot on hand and mistakenly thought it worked by "cauterizing the wound."
The downside is the price, about $40 for the combat gauze I used.
Sounds reasonable for the use case though!