Using medical Vaseline gauze to alleviate the pressure injury caused by a mask and hat

Surgical challenge

The COVID-19 epidemic has affected people all over the world, especially medical personnel who must wear masks and hats everyday. After a mask and hat have been worn for a long time, the skin on a health care worker's face tightened by the mask and hat is inevitably left with marks and wrinkles (Fig 1 , A), which makes people feel very uncomfortable. When treating patients, this discomfort will force medical staff to adjust the position of the mask and hat, increasing the risk of infection.

Fig 1.

A, The crease left by the hat on the forehead. B, Medical Vaseline gauze for the experiment. C, Cut the gauze into long strips to fit the hat edge. D, Stick the gauze onto the skin where the hat presses. E, Place the hat edge in the gauze area when wearing the hat. F, Take off the hat after 4 hours—the crease is not obvious, which is in sharp contrast to panel A, which shows an obvious crease without using the gauze.

Solution

A simple method involving medical Vaseline gauze to the impression can resolve these problems. Take the mark caused by a hat as an example. Take a piece of medical Vaseline gauze (Fig 1, B); cut it into a long strip (Fig 1, C); and apply it to the impression (Fig 1, D), which is just in the gauze area when wearing the hat (Fig 1, E). This method can effectively reduce the damage caused by hat pressure (Fig 1, F), and it can be applied to any part of the skin pressured by the mask and hat.

Medical Vaseline gauze (Henan Yadu Industrial Co, Ltd, Changyuan, Henan, China) is used in the clinic to promote faster wound healing. Not only does it have the function of lubrication, but it can also lock in moisture, which makes it an antiwrinkle and antipressure solution.