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Fitness-Equipment | What Should You Know ...What Should You Know about Bandages and Their Usage?Total Word Count: 476 Author Rating: NA  Rate this article
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In common parlance, a bandage is understood to mean a strip or piece of cloth to wrap and tie over the dressing of a wound, a cut or a bruise. In medical terms, bandages include a wide range of wrapping materials to cover and bind over all kinds of bruises, cuts, wounds, injuries and fractures. They form a necessary part of the medicinal paraphernalia available in an Operation Theatre.
A bandage is used to firmly wrap over the dressing of a wound or injury to stop any blood loss and to prevent any infection from developing in the area of the wound/injury. Some times when the cut is deep and wide, the same has to be stitched with needle and medicinal thread to stop blood from gushing out - and then a gauze bandage is used to cover the dressing on the wound. Gauze bandages are widely used in clinics and hospitals where fresh dressings to wounds are to be applied on almost daily basis or even on alternate days.
Bandages of various types form an integral part of any meaningful First Aid Kit as different bandages are required for different kinds of injuries. Some of the commonly available bandages in medical stores are as follows: - Adhesive Zinc-oxide bandage - Capeline bandage - bandage usually used to cover head injuries - Plaster bandage, Plaster cast, Cast - Compression/Pressure bandage - Elastic bandage - Four-tailed bandage - a strip of cloth split in two on both ends - Gauze, Gauze bandage - Roller bandage - bandage rolled onto a cylinder to facilitate easy application - Scarf bandage, triangular bandage, Sling - Suspensory bandage - Swathe, wrapping - an enveloping bandage The most common of these bandages are the adhesive and gauze bandages. With regard to adhesive bandages, one can immediately recount Band Aid by Johnson and Johnson’s. The adhesive material used in adhesive bandages are usually mixed with medically approved components, such as zinc-oxide etc., to speed up the healing process. Some of these bandages which are cut to different shapes and sizes, also have a small, medicated absorbent pad at the center to be placed over the wound so as to cover it-leaving the sides to stick to the surrounding skin and thereby preventing any dirt from reaching the wound. Some of the popular brands of adhesive bandages available in the market are Band Aid, Curad and Elastoplast. Their different shapes have become popular under different names, such as, Strip bandage, Butterfly closure bandage and Fingertip bandage. Another very extensively used type of bandage, as mentioned earlier, is the Gauze. It is simply a woven material made of light-weight cotton threads and is available in multiples sizes, lengths and widths. It is not adhesive by itself and as such, does not stick to the wounds and cuts. It firmly holds the dressing of the injury in place-no matter what part of the body it is used for. Gauze bandages are widely used in homes and hospitals alike. Small cuts and bruises treated at home are usually covered with such bandages. In fact, no ‘First Aid Kit’ is considered to be complete without a roll of gauze in it! ArticleSource: ArticlesAlley.com
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