Fibers Used for Medical and Health Care Application

Fibers Used for Medical and Health Care Application

Authors: Taha Bin Yahya
Maaz Wasim Khan
Akram Ali
National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Email: tahabinyahya@gmail.com

Fibers for Medical & Health Care:
Textiles materials that are used in medical applications include fibers, yarns, fabrics and composites. Depending upon the application, the major requirements of medical textiles are absorbency, tenacity, flexibility, softness and at times bio-stability or bio-degradability.

Fibers Used for Medical and Health Care Application

Fibers used in medical field may vary from natural fiber such as cotton, silk, regenerated wood fluff (absorbent layer), to, manmade fibers like polyester, polyamide, polyethylene, glass fiber etc.

The various applications of different fiber in medical field are shown as follows:

Sr No.	Fibre	Application in medical field
1	Cotton	Surgical clothing gowns, Beddings, Sheets, Pillow cover, Uniforms, Surgical hosiery
2	Viscose	Caps, Masks, Wipes
3	Polyester	Gowns, Masks, Surgical cover drapes, Blankets, Coverstock
4	Polyamide	Surgical hosiery
5	Polypropylene	Protective clothing
6	Polyethylene	Surgical covers, Drapes
7	Glass	Caps mask
8	Elastomeric	Surgical hosiery

Current Issues

A number of crucial issues regarding medical products in general and healthcare and hygiene products in particular have been identified and debated amongst clinicians, environmentalist, drug companies etc. for a long time. The issues such as

• Natural against chemical or manufactured fibers
• Disposable against reusable or durable fabrics
• Antibacterial or antimicrobial fibers against finishes or coatings for infection control
• Methods of disposal of clinical waste i.e. landfills against incineration and other forms of medical and clinical waste disposal

There is general move towards an increased use of natural polymers that are biocompatible, biodegradable and nontoxic.

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