Wound dressings that stick to the skin can be made from pressure-sensitive adhesives that have traditionally been used in food applications. Fabrico, a provider of industrial materials and adhesives, is converting hydrocolloidal adhesives for several medical uses, including short- and long-term wound care, surgical dressings, and ostomy applications.
Medical use is a growing application area for skin-friendly (or "stick-to-skin") material. It includes a range of devices that must stick to patients' skin, such as components for medical equipment. These devices vary in size, shape, weight, cushioning/pressure, absorbency, and duration of contact with the skin. In addition, resistance to heat, moisture, pressure and fluids and compatibility with sterilization are important. All these factors also apply to surgical drapes, dressings for acute and chronic wounds, ostomy appliances, and foot care/cushioning.
Hydrocolloid pressure-sensitive adhesives can be easily applied to wounds and to multiple types of substrates, including polyethylene foam, PVC foam, and polyurethane foam or film. (Source: Fabrico)
Hydrocolloidal self-adhesives can be applied to many substrates on the nonskin side, including polyethylene foam, PVC foam, and polyurethane foam or film. Especially in some newer formulations, they provide alternatives to traditional wound dressings, because they are durable and cause little or no skin trauma. They are impermeable to water vapor when applied but become increasingly permeable and absorb more fluid over time, which helps them cope with continual fluids from wounds. The breathability, conformability, and thickness can be controlled by the dressing's formulation and fabrication methods.
Adhesives commonly used in these applications include epoxies, acrylics, and styrene block co-polymers. The two most commonly used pressure-sensitive adhesive types for stick-to-skin applications are acrylics and synthetic-based rubber. Acrylic adhesives are often used in wound dressings and related applications that must adhere to the skin for long periods of time. Synthetic-based rubber adhesives adhere well to low surface energy substrates, such as low-density polyethylene, but they can be rough on fragile skin.
Medical grade adhesives, including hydrocolloids, must comply with International Standard: ISO 10993, Biological Evaluation of Medical Devices Part 1: Evaluation Testing for biocompatibility. Stick-to-skin materials must also be adaptable for material converting operations and designed for high-volume manufacturing. Fabrico is providing hydrocolloidal adhesives in double- or single-coated tapes, as well as in roll form. The company offers precision die-cutting, multilayer laminating, and slitting to tight tolerances. It also provides cleanroom capabilities, including converting and packaging, as well as other medical-grade adhesives and related plastics, foams, and liners.
Rob, I've used Super Glue, too. I once had a horrible knife wound in the palm of my hand (don't try to catch sharp knives when you drop them, those suckers will slip right through your hand.....IIIIEEEW) and with just a little dab I had my hand back together. It's not a recommendation, it's just an experience I had.
Moha, thanks for your valid input. I think most of us may come across such adhesive problems with bandage or cotton over the wound. Even I had struggled many times for removing these adhesive materials from skin and wound. Next time I will let you know whether it's effective or not.
moha, thanks for your input. Using alcohol to remove adhesives from intact, uninjured skin definitely works. But your pain threshold must be a lot higher than mine: I would not put salt water anywhere near a wound. Also, there are coating cotton bandage materials with a slicker surface that are less likely to stick to a wound.
A simple way to remove adhesive bandages painlessly, is to apply alcohol to the edge of the bandage with a cotton swab. The alchol will release the adhesive, and the bandage can be pulled away from the skin as you wipe the swab back and forth at the skin/bandage interface. If the cotton pad on the bandage has absorbed body fluid and is now stuck to the wound, salt water applied to the pad with an eye dropper will shortly soften the matrix holding the pad to the wound.
Since this material is sold to hospitals, not to individuals, I'd bet it costs a lot more than Band-Aids, Chuck. But maybe we'll eventually see a lower-grade version for consumers some day.
Thanks for your input everyone. This material is designed for fragile skin undergoing major trauma: skin that is continually abraded by colostomy bag tubes, or open wounds, sometimes chronic ones, or skin that has recently been cut in surgery, for example. So not only does it stick easily, but it also removes easily. I'm sure it would work on more everyday minor wounds and cuts, although probably not on dental bridges.
This is a great idea. I won't have to use Super Glue on my kids' cuts any longer. In my lifetime there has only been one advance in home-based cut care -- Super Glue. It's good to see an advance that isn't as weird as Super Glue. Now if only they could come up with a home-based solution to putting a dental bridge back in place. My dentist doesn't recommend Super Glue, though she did say some of her patients have tried it.
Current Adhesive coverings for wounds cause major skin damage. My mom had some used on her in an operation she had. She had major skin lacerations 4 in by 6 in on either side of the operation. Because she had moved (minor moves) there were small cuts where the skin had torn in 1mm thin stripes alone the supporting strings in the strip of adhesive. It was painful for her and horrible image for the rest of us. Even with that risk supposedly wounds heal faster with adhesive strips supporting the wound.
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