PVC—Just What the Doctor Ordered
When is shelf liner not shelf liner? When it’s wrapped around a broken limb. At least that’s what orthopedic surgeon John Stanton of Clarksville, Tenn., discovered when he turned that humble PVC product into a cast liner that frees his patients to swim and shower in comfort.
The shelf liner has a polyester base, or skrim, with a checkerboard pattern of open and closed squares.
“This is dipped into a bath of foamed-up PVC,” Dr. Stanton said. “The number of dips determines the thickness of the padding.”
Working at home, Dr. Stanton cut the liner into bias strips and connected them into rolls by melting the ends with a heat gun. Today, his patent-pending product is manufactured in ready-to-use 2-inch by 50-inch or 3-inch by 60-inch rolls called WaterPruf cast padding. He is also patenting a version of padding for splints when a limb must be immobilized.
In treating a patient, Dr. Stanton wraps the limb in PVC webbing, then applies the fiberglass cast and allows it to harden. The result is a smooth, foamy liner and a hard outer shell.
“The lining does not hold or attract water. Also, water runs through it. It dries in half an hour,” Dr. Stanton said in describing the advantages of using the PVC cast liner. WaterPruf is less sticky and sweaty than the more expensive lining made of Gor-Tex, which does not let water run through it. Since there is no rubber in WaterPruf, it does not cause latex reactions.
In the 3½ years since he developed the liner, Dr. Stanton has used it on 150 patients – 90 percent on arm injuries. He uses the liner only on fractures that are stable—not swollen—and that do not involve stitches, incisions or pins. The product is especially useful for children’s injuries, such as “greenstick” fractures, he said. Another possible use would be in corrective casting, applied by therapists at children’s hospitals.
WaterPruf is manufactured by Vantage Industries of Atlanta and marketed by DeRoyal Industries of Powell, Tenn. Contact DeRoyal at 800-541-3992 for more information and for a free sample.