Surgical tape or medical tape is a type of pressure-sensitive

adhesive tape Adhesive tape is one of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive. Several types of adhesives can be used. Types Pressure-sensitive tape Pressure-sensitive tape, PSA tape, self-stick tape or sticky tape consists of a pre ...

used in medicine and

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

to hold a bandage or other dressing onto a

wound A wound is any disruption of or damage to living tissue, such as skin, mucous membranes, or organs. Wounds can either be the sudden result of direct trauma (mechanical, thermal, chemical), or can develop slowly over time due to underlying diseas ...

. These tapes usually have a

hypoallergenic Hypoallergenic, meaning "below average" or "slightly" allergenic, is a term meaning that something (usually cosmetics, pets, textiles, food, etc.) causes fewer allergic reactions. The term was first used in 1953 in an advertising campaign for co ...

adhesive Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advantage ...

which is designed to hold firmly onto skin, dressing materials, and underlying layers of tape, but to remove easily without damaging the skin. They allow air to reach the skin ("breathable"). Some breathable tapes such as kinesiology tape, and other elastic bandages with adhesive are made of cotton. Surgical tape is often white because it contains

zinc oxide Zinc oxide is an inorganic compound with the Chemical formula, formula . It is a white powder which is insoluble in water. ZnO is used as an additive in numerous materials and products including cosmetics, Zinc metabolism, food supplements, rubbe ...

, which is added to help prevent

infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

s. Tapes made of porous material, such as 3M Micropore, are widely used.

History

Primitive surgical tape, or ''sparadrapum'' probably consisted of strips of cloth impregnated with some type of plaster or sticky gum, which was applied over gauzes or wound dressings to hold them in place. Plaster casts over fractures were sometimes called "Spanish dressings" In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

an Italian a description appears in the thirteenth century, where surgical tape was recorded as ''sparadrappo'', although there were some variations of spelling. In French it first appears in 1314 as '' speradrapu'', and in Spanish it was documented as ''espadrapo'' around 1495. Linguistically it is possible that in European

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

: * the first linguistic element ''spara'' could come Latin ''separāre'' (separate), itself composed verb parāre (prepare, arrange), and linked to a root Indo-European ''per (Ə)´ -1 (procure, disposal). * The second element comes from Latin drappus'' (cloth or rag), and appears in the fifth century BC work of the Greek medical writer Oribasius, who speculates that term may relate to a Celtic loan word.

Types of surgical tape

There are many types of surgical tape classified according to the material of which the tape itself is constituted and the qualities of the applied adhesive, which should be

. The most common types are either fragile tape (such as paper, which tears easily) or tear-resistant (often fabric or plastic) and some of these may also be either waterproof or breathable or both water-resistant and partly-porous, allowing some limited passage of air and moisture. A bandage should have appropriate adhesive power and be breathable and at the same time impermeable, easy to remove without irritating the skin and resistant to extreme temperatures, aging and solar radiation. Surgical tapes for medical use are subject to the requirements contained in internationally recognized standards such as the

ASTM International ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is a standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical international standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and s ...

ASTM PSTC / 6 standard.ASTM STANDARDS ON Pressure Sensitive Adhesive tape
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Features

Some features of surgical tape dressings include: * rolls, or pre-cut and individually packaged * transparent, white, and "skin" colours (although in a limited range of skin colours) * rigid, or stretch (to fix a dressing in place, or to flex around to skeletal joints) * waterproof or absorbent

History

Types of surgical tape

Features

References

Further reading