Surgery: splint – brace – or bandage – Bandage structure – Skin laceration or wound cover
Patent
1998-01-06
2000-04-18
Weiss, John G.
Surgery: splint, brace, or bandage
Bandage structure
Skin laceration or wound cover
602 41, 602 56, A61F 500
Patent
active
060517476
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a wound dressing and to a method of its manufacture.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
European Patent Specification 0 261 167 teaches a wound dressing that has a layer of silicone gel on that side which lies proximal to the wound in use. One of the advantages afforded by such a layer is that it will adhere to dry skin, but not to the surface of a wound. The gel layer is preferably perforated to enable excess fluid exuded by the wound to be absorbed into in an absorbent body placed on top of the gel layer by suction. The perforated pattern in the gel layer is obtained by supporting said layer on a carrier that includes a pattern of holes, such as a knitted textile material or a perforated plastic film.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a wound dressing for weeping sores whose properties are equally as good or better than the properties of the aforedescribed dressing, and which has a simpler construction and which can be produced much more cheaply than the aforesaid dressing.
These objects are achieved in accordance with the invention with a dressing that is characterized by a layer of absorbent foam material that includes a pattern of holes which open into that side of the foam material that lies proximal to the wearer's skin in use, wherein the foam material is coated with a layer of hydrophobic gel which adheres to the skin, and wherein the walls of the holes in the foam material are coated with gel at those end parts of said walls which lie proximal to the wearer's skin when the dressing is used. Because the foam material is used as a gel carrier the dressing has a simpler construction and can be produced more easily than earlier known dressings of this kind. Even a thin gel layer will function as a spacer layer, because it covers an end part of the hole walls and therewith prevents contact between foam material and skin, which reduces material requirements and therewith the cost of the dressing. Because of its hydrophobicity, the spacer layer will prevent spontaneous reflux of absorbed fluid to the skin or the wound.
In a first preferred embodiment intended for wounds from which fluid is exuded only slightly or in normal quantities, the holes of the hole pattern are comprised of the pores in the foam material, wherein the gel also extends slightly into the open pores of the foam material that border on the gel layer, without closing all pores.
In a second preferred embodiment intended for wounds that exude fluid in normal to copious quantities, the holes in the hole pattern are created in the foam material and are through-penetrating.
The foam material is coated with a layer of liquid-impervious material on that side of the foam material that lies distal from the wearer's skin in use.
The dressing has a skin adhesion force F1 of 0.1-2.0 N, suitably 0.3-1.3 N and preferably 0.4-1.0 N. The foam material is a soft, open-cell foam and the gel layer consists of chemically cross-linked hydrophobic silicone gel.
The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a wound dressing that comprises a layer of absorbent foam material that includes a pattern of holes, wherein the holes open out in that side of the foam material that lies proximal to the wearer's skin when the dressing is used, and wherein the foam material is coated with a layer of skin-adhering gel, and wherein those end portions of the walls of the holes in the foam material that lie proximal to the wearer's skin when the dressing is worn are coated with gel, characterized by placing a sheet of foam material on top of a layer of curable gel mixture, and thereafter heating the gel mixture after a given period of time until the mixture sets.
In a first embodiment the layer of gel mixture has a thickness of 0.1-1.0 mm.
In a second embodiment a pattern of holes is created in the foam material before placing said material on the gel mixture layer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to
REFERENCES:
patent: 5540922 (1996-07-01), Fabo
patent: 5635201 (1997-06-01), Fabo
Areskoug Stefan
Fabo Thomas
Lindqvist Bengt W.
Hart Kelvin
Molnlycke Health Care AB
Weiss John G.
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