Frequently Asked Questions on Bandages


Bandages
What is a Bandage?
Bandage is a strip of material such as gauze used to protect, immobilize, compress, or support a wound or injured body part.
What is the purpose of Bandages?
The purposes served by dressings include protecting wounds; promoting healing; and providing, retaining, or removing moisture. Bandages can be used to hold dressings in place, and also to relieve pain and generally make the patient comfortable. Elastic bandages are useful to provide ongoing pressure on varicose veins, fractured ribs, swollen joints, etc.
How can I help a bandage or wound dressing stick to my skin better?
After you have washed the wound area, pat it dry before applying the bandage or wound dressing. After it’s on, avoid rubbing the bandage or dressing or exposing it more than necessary to any liquids.
How I can use Bandages?
When applying a bandage, be careful not to touch the sterile pad with your fingers or with anything that can contaminate it before it is applied to the wound.
What kind of Bandages are there which I can use?
There are various kinds of Bandages, which are as follows:
Strip Bandage
The strip bandage is the most common bandage to first aid kits, used for any small wound on a flat surface.

Finger Tip Bandage
The finger tip bandage is used for just that - a finger tip. It is made to wrap around the finger.

Knuckle Bandage
The knuckle bandage wraps around the knuckle.

Butterfly Closure
The butterly closure is used to pull both sides of a cut back together to promote healing and help prevent infection.

Donut Bandage
The Donut Bandage is used to put pressure around an impaled object without putting pressure on the object itself. Attach with roll or gauze or tape.

Pressure Bandages
A pressure bandage is best described as a conforming gauze roll bandage that contains an inner absorbent layer of porous cotton to be applied to a wound site. The rolled gauze is then applied around the cotton pad to hold it in place on the wound.

Triangular Bandage
The triangular bandage takes up little space in a first aid kit - the bandage when wrapped in its package is only about 3 inches square- but it unwraps to a large flexible triangular sheet which can be used to sling an arm, wrap around a wrist injury, wrap around an injured head.

Tensor Bandages
Tensor bandages are elastic stretch bandages that provide compression and a controlled pressure. Metal clips hold them in place. Great to stop bleeding.