GB2217206A

GB2217206A - First aid dressing

Info

Publication number: GB2217206A
Application number: GB8808648A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jeffrey Noble Wilson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-04-13
Filing date: 1988-04-13
Publication date: 1989-10-25
Also published as: GB8808648D0

Abstract

Adhesive plaster designed to minimise the alarm felt by children on having an adhesive plaster applied to their wounds. The plasters are of the type comprising a sheet of flexible material having on one side the wound pad and an adhesive, the other face being decorated particularly with the representation of a cartoon or real character or with a pattern defined by two or more colours.

Description

First Aid Dressings The invention relates to first aid wound dressings and particularly to adhesive plasters and even more particularly to individual plasters applied to wounds in their entirity though it may also be applicable to plaster in roll form from which finite length portions are cut to provide dressings for individual wounds.

Whilst adhesive plasters may be used to cover quite serious wounds as a first aid measure when there may be a delay in getting professional medical attention to the wounds, they are commonly used in connection with relatively minor wounds such as scratches, grazes, bites and stings.

When the plasters are applied to children's wounds, the mere application may afford comfort, the child being satisfied that something is being done to assist the healing process even if medically the plasters have no beneficial effect. Conversely, and perhaps particularly with younger children, the application of a plaster on a child's wound may induce an unwarranted feeling of apprehension or even fear, with the child imagining that its wound is more serious than it is.

In an attempt to minimize the alarm experienced particularly by young children on having an adhesive plaster applied to their wounds, I provide according to my invention, a wound dressing of the type comprising a sheet of flexible material having at one face a wound pad and adhesive means for releasably attaching the sheet to the body, characterised in that the other face of the sheet presents a decorative appearance.

The decorative appearance may be provided by juxtaposed areas of the surface being of different colour or by lines of one colour against a background of another or by a combination of the two.

The decorative appearance may take any of a number of different forms including words or pictures and including patterns whether regular or otherwise.

The sheet may be of fibrous material and may possibly be woven, or may be of plastics material and may possibly be extruded. The decorated surface of the sheet may be, but is not necessarily, flat.

The decorative appearance may be provided by printing.

Additionally, the sheet of flexible material may be shaped otherwise than the conventional shape known ir articles of this type, namely circles and squares or rectangles with more or less rounded corners or ends.

The shape may be related to the decorative appearance.

The invention will now be described with reference to non-limiting examples.

In the first embodiment the wound dressing comprises an adhesive plaster in the form of a circle of thin sheet plastics material having a medicated wound pad at centre of one face whilst the remainder of that face, surrounding the wound pad, is covered with a layer of adhesive by means of which the sheet may be releasably attached to the skin of a person with the pad overlying a wound. On the reverse side of the sheet, is a representation of a cartoon character in a black outline on a differently coloured ground. In a modification of the embodiment different portions of the cartoon character may be rendered in contrasting or otherwise different colours. In yet a further modification of that embodiment the use of different colours sufficiently defines the cartoon character without the use of black lines which are thus omitted.

In a second embodiment of the invention, the face of a plaster opposite ot that bearing the medicated pad and the adhesive is provided with a representation of a cartoon character and the dressing as a whole is shaped to correspond with the outline shape of the character in that representation.

In another embodiment the face of an adhesive plaster opposite to that carrying the adhesive is printed with a representation of a real character such as a pop star and may also incorporate a representation of the signature of a star. Optionally, the decoration may include words such as 5 . . . says get well solon".

In yet other embodiments, the decoration takes the form of a geometrical or other regular or irregular pattern defines by two or more colours including black. The dies, inks or other colouring matters used in the creation of the decorative effect will, of course, show a high degree of wash-fastness and will be non-toxic.

Some children may be proud to wear an adhesive plaster on which the surface which is visible in use bears a representation of a tattoo, and the invention contemplates the decoration of an adhesive plaster in such a fashion. It is also within the scope of the invention to provide a plaster which, before or after application to a wound, may be decorated by the patient himself or by his friends and will for that purpose be formed of a material which will accept inks or other colouring matters, preferably with due safeguard against them transferring to the wound beneath.

Other decorative features of the exposed face of the plaster of the invention include representations, by shape and by applied markings, of pockets of "designer" jeans and stylised hearts.

The purpose of the invention is to provide an adhesive plaster which a young child may positively like to have on his body as a counter to a natural aversion to having such an article applied, especially if he recalls the trauma of having a plaster removed.

Conventional plasters are of so-called flesh colour and are commonly sold in packs which tend to be clinical in appearance with much use of the colour red which is likely to be associated in the mind of a child with blood. It is within the scope of the invention, therefore, to provide adhesive plasters as described above, in a range of patterns within a single container, the container itself having representations within the range as mentioned above in connection with the plasters themselves.

Claims

1. A wound dressing of the type comprising a sheet of flexible material having at one face a wound pad and adhesive means for releasably attaching the sheet to the body, characterised in that the other face of the sheet presents a decorative appearance.

2. A wound dressing according to Claim 1 wherein the decorative appearance is provided by juxtaposed areas of the surface being a different colour or by lines of one colour against a background of another or by a combination of the two.

3. A wound dressing according to Claim 1 and Claim 2 wherein the decorative appearance may take any of a number of different forms including words or pictures and including patterns whether regular or otherwise.

4. A wound dressing according to claim 1 wherein the sheet is of fibrous material.

5. A wound dressing according to Claim 4 wherein the sheet is woven.

6. A wound dressing according to Claim 1 wherein the sheet is of plastics material.

7. A wound dressing according to Claim 6 in which the sheet is extruded.

8. A wound dressing according to Claim 1 in which the decorated surface is flat.

9. A wound dressing according to Claim 1 wherein the decorative appearance is provided by printing.

10. A wound dressing according to Claim 1 in which the sheeted material is shaped otherwise than the conventional shape known in articles of this type, namely circles and squares or rectangles with more or less rounded corners or ends.

11. A wound dressing of the type comprising a sheet of flexible material having at one face the wound pad and adhesive means for releasably attaching the sheet to the body, substantially as herein described.