Why use polyurethane dressing for chronic wounds

The protection of patients from the risk of infection of chronic wounds is very important, and to date it is critical to prevent the emergence of new criticalities that could slow down the wound healing process.

How Mepilex Border Flex dressings work

Mölnlycke, a leader in the field of dressings, has designed ad hoc solutions that can ensure the perfect management of chronic wounds in optimal time. The Mepilex® Border Flex flexible dressing, Of a new generation, it is designed to fit perfectly to the wound and to remain applied for a long time.

Mepilex® Border Flex is a polyurethane dressing that reduces dressing changes and features a protective film with Flex technology that prevents access to external bacteria and flawlessly manages exudate.

The Flex technology is a special innovation that allows the dressing to move in any direction, reducing skin stress, increasing comfort and keeping it in place throughout the laying period, offering all-around flexibility. It also allows the dressing to adapt to the patient's shape and movements, relieves pressure on the skin and minimizes the risk of detachment.

This special dressing is composed of a super absorbent retention layer with special fibers whose gelling properties are able to capture bacteria, preventing exudate containing bacteria from entering the wound bed, even under compression. The polyurethane foam layer also enables rapid absorption of both normal and viscous exudate.

Advantages

In addition to the intelligent management of exudate Thanks to the Flex technology, Mepilex® Border Flex offers two additional benefits, namely the reduction of pain and skin damage and the cost savings. Let's look at all three benefits together.

Intelligent exudate management

The access of external bacteria is prevented by the protective film and thanks to the exudate monitoring system it is possible to assess and record the spread of it without interfering with the wound.

The fibers of which the super-absorbent retention layer with Flex Technology is composed are able to trapping bacteria. This prevents exudate containing bacteria from re-accessing the wound bed, even under pressure.

Through the diffusion layer, exudate is moved away from the wound, thus spreading it over a larger area to increase evaporation of accumulated exudates.

The polyurethane foam layer promotes a faster absorption of both normal and viscous exudate.

Reduces pain and skin damage

Thanks to the Safetac® soft silicone wound contact layer, Mepilex® Border Flex is able to minimize pain, skin damage and the risk of maceration.

Mepilex® Border Flex, through its Flex technology, perfectly adapts perfectly to the patient's shape and movements. The dressing in question is water-resistant; this allows patients to shower, and decreases the minor need for dressing changes by 78%.

Mepilex® Border Flex positively affects the budget

The reduction in dressing changes also results in the positive effects on the budget, as each change incurs costs both economically and in terms of time.

In detail, following a year-long quality improvement project (QPI), it was found that the use of Mepilex® Border Flex (combined with additional improvement processes aimed at reducing expenditures) resulted in a savings in hospital costs of 74,2%.

Supporting bibliography

For more scientific information pertaining to the use of the Mepilex® Border Flex polyurethane dressing, Flex technology, and the testing conducted by Mölnlycke Health Care, the following documents can be accessed: