3 Criteria for Choosing an Adhesive Bandage
17 December 2018
Minor wounds requiring adhesive bandages range from paper cuts to skinned knees. In most cases there is an adhesive bandage specifically designed to best serve that injury. But how do you know which adhesive bandages to keep in stock? Perhaps this blog post will help.
There are 3 criteria for selecting an adhesive bandage. Bear in mind all adhesive bandages are required to be sterile, they are expected to be easy to remove from their packaging and they absolutely must stick to the skin while in use. The 3 criteria are: 1) the wound size, 2) the body location of the wound, and 3) the environment the adhesive bandage will be exposed to, such as water, sweat, grease or dirt.
NorMed has selected our adhesive bandage lines to meet or exceed the expectations of all adhesive bandages but more importantly to meet the needs of many different minor wounds types, body locations, and environments.
For example, that pesky little paper cut on your finger. A little mini, spot, or junior size adhesive bandage will cover it. It will help to protect it from dust and dirt. It will even help keep an antibiotic ointment applied. However, if the cut is on the tip of your finger, and you have very busy hands, the best adhesive bandage may be an elastic fingertip bandage.
We’ve chosen HART Health Adhesive Bandages as they are consistently reliable, very popular with our customers, plus they come in a large variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. We love HART Health bandages for our personal use and we know you will too.
Below we’ve created a clear outline of the typical uses for these customer favorite bandages.
Shapes:
Strips and patches range in size from Mini strips to 2” x 4” and are best used on open areas of skin. If you need to use a strip or patch, particularly a larger size, on an area that flexes, we recommend the elastic woven bandages. Sheers are great for minor wounds that may not need to be covered for long periods of time.
Fingertips come in two sizes, standard fingertip and a large fingertip for larger hands. The wound pad protects the tip of the finger and the "wings” of the bandage wrap around the finger and each other to stay firmly in place.Knuckles bandages anchor in place by the uniquely designed split adhesive strips on both ends. These strips go between fingers and criss-cross around finger to keep the pad right where it’s needed most.
Finger Wraps use an off-set pad to cover the wound, the short end of the adhesive strip anchors the pad in place then the long end of the strip wraps around the bandage to secure it. A great choice for very active hands including those needing work gloves often.
Materials:
Sheers are a light weight plastic material, very economical and especially useful where the adhesive bandage will not be worn for long periods of time.
Light weight elastic woven fabric bandages come in light, LITEFLEX, and very light, ULTRALITE. Designed largely for offices and other light duty environments. Excellent adhesion with flexibility combine to make these bandages, when worn, hardly noticeable.
Heavy weight elastic woven fabric bandages are available in two types of rugged fabric and have an aggressive adhesive. TUFFLEX, is perfect for minor wounds that need protection in light industrial type settings, ULTRAFLEX works well in heavy industrial environments. Both have excellent adhesion even with dirt, grease, and perspiration these bandages stick longer.
Water-proof bandages, AQUAFLEX, provide strong water protection keeping wounds drier. These are the favorite of our waterpark, resort and hotel customers they say they find fewer adhesive bandages in their filtration equipment since they’ve started using AQUAFLEX bandages.
Food services require specialized adhesive bandages to keep our foods safe from contamination. BLUFLEX and BLUTEC exceed industry standards for adhesion and detectability. Made of the same light weight material as the LITEFLEX bandages they are dyed blue for ease of visual detection. BLUTEC includes a metal detectable strip embedded in the blue bandages making them easily detectable by specialized equipment. FOAMTEC, also for food services industries, is made with a blue foam material that adheres well in wet environments and is also metal detectable.
Still have adhesive bandage questions? Contact our Customer Service staff who are well prepared to help you find just the right adhesive bandage to ‘cover’ your needs. 800-288-8200
