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Medical gauze & pads

Medical and first aid personnel, particularly when working away from a mdical facility, have often found a need for a more convenient way to dispense gauze than from the package in which the gauze is received from the manufacturer. Adhesive bandages comprising a central pad area and adjacent adhesive areas are well-known and popular as first aid wound dressings. Medical bandages generally comprise an elongated strip of cloth or plastic backing material coated on one surface with a pressure sensitive adhesive. A gauze or sponge pad is secured to the adhesive surface in a central location to serve as the wound cover. The wound facing surface of the pad may be plastic-coated or otherwise treated to prevent the pad from adhering to the wound. Plastic-coated release strips are placed over the adhesive areas and the entire assembly is placed in a sealed package and sterilized to be ready for use. The pad material may be dry or impregnated with various bactericides or other wound treatment medicaments. The capacity of the pad to absorb and hold such compositions is a limiting factor on the amount of such material which may be incorporated into the bandage. An alternate form of adhesive bandage, generally referred to as an island bandage, comprises a generally square, round or oval adhesive coated backing material with a centrally located pad forming an island surrounded by the adhesive surface. The adhesive surface is similarly covered by release paper before the bandage is packaged and sterilized. Absorbent pads are routinely used in clinics and in homes. Such pads essentially comprise a combination of an absorbent material and a fluid barrier. A mesh is typically provided over the absorbent material to retain the absorbent material against the fluid barrier, which serves as a backing for the pad.

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