CAST AWAY!
Hi-tech ‘sleeve’ may spell end of itchy plaster
THEY are itchy, smelly, uncomfortable and have to be cut off with a saw.
Now plaster casts may finally be discarded for good – and replaced with a futuristic ‘sleeve’.
Scientists have created a light, waterproof alternative that patients with broken limbs can wear to exercise and even swim in the sea.
The wide-mesh sleeve is filled with two liquid resins, moulded into the correct position for each patient.
It has a sci-fi look and comes in a range of colours.
Patients in traditional plaster casts cannot clean underneath, making the skin susceptible to rot and infection.
When it is time to remove them, they have to watch a doctor cut them off with a circular saw.
However, the new sleeve appears to have one drawback – it won’t be as easy for friends and family to sign. Veronica Hogg of US firm Cast21, which created the sleeve, said: ‘The majority of fractures happen in children, adolescents and the elderly.
‘Those saws are very loud and all this debris flies off and it’s very messy, it can be extremely frightening.’
She said the new sleeve was designed to be easily snipped off with clinical shears.
The Chicago-based firm said its invention was faster to put on than a traditional cast. After measuring the damaged limb, doctors slide on a flexible, padded, sleeve then mix the liquid resins and drip them into it. Then they mould the product to fit the limb, and wait five to seven minutes for it to harden.
‘It feels soothing,’ Miss Hogg said. ‘It reaches the same temperature as a hot tub. The sleeve has been patented but is not yet on sale.
‘It’s very soothing’