Compression bandage

Claim 1

A compression bandage for minimizing swelling caused by contusion of a body part of a human or animal subject, comprising: an elongated, flexible, self-supporting, self-adhereable strip adapted to be wound around the body part in direct surface-to-surface contact with the skin in order to form a multiple convolution compression bandage for compressing the body part and cooling same, said strip being of a length sufficient to permit the bandage to be wrapped totally around the body part with the adjacent convolutions of the bandage being overlapped and adhered to one another so that the bandage will remain wrapped around the body part, said strip consisting essentially of an elongated, thin, substantially planar, flexible, permeable substrate which is impregnated and filled with a gel, said gel consisting essentially of gelled polyvinyl alcohol containing occluded water so that the gel is substantially self-supporting and has a solidlike consistency, said gel being formed by impregnating said substrate with an aqueous solution containing from about 4 to 8 weight percent of polyvinyl alcohol and the balance being essentially water, said polyvinyl alcohol being coagulated with a coagulating agent to insolubilize said polyvinyl alcohol and trap the water therein, said gel being capable of adhering to itself and not being capable of adhering strongly to the skin of the subject, said gel extending to the opposite surfaces of said substrate so that said strip is pressure-sensitive and will adhere to itself and said gel does not strongly adhere to the surface of the skin of the body part so that said strip can easily be unwound and removed from the body part without leaving a significant amount of residue thereon.