By CHANTELLE TURNER
For patients tired of the inconvenience of keeping a cast dry, the option of a waterproof cast is available.
The gortex-lined waterproof cast has been on the market at least five years, but patients are not readily aware of the option.
'The way we generally do it is we stick this cotton netting over the arm instead of the gortex and then wrap it with cotton,' said Tammie Applegarth, a registered nurse at University Hospital.
That process provides a little cushion so the patient has space to swell and keeps the fiberglass from sticking to them, Applegarth said.
Doctors prefer the standard cotton-lined cast because they can get a tight fit on the arm or leg, she said.
The gortex lined cast has air pockets which repel the water instead of absorbing it. After getting the cast wet, the water drains out and dries within a couple of minutes because fiberglass can get wet.
'The nice thing about this is suddenly life (becomes) much easier for people with casts. You don't have to worry about getting them wet in the rain, you can take showers (and) you can go swimming,' said Gordon B. Glade, pediatrician.
The cotton is the reason the standard casts were not able to get wet. Patients who did get the cotton wet ran into problems, he said.
'What would happen is fungus and all sorts of things would start growing inside the cast. The fiberglass would stay firm but (the cotton) would start smelling and eroding the skin,' Glade said.
The gortex-lined cast is more of a patient's convenience. Applegarth said of five doctors in the orthopedic clinic at University Hospital, only one uses it on a regular basis.
The gortex lining, however, does not conform well to the arm or leg which makes it hard to obtain a good fit.
'Some of the orthopedic surgeons who are manipulating bones and trying to get things perfectly aligned prefer not to use (the gortex) liner because they want to make sure the fit is really tight,' Glade said.
Typically, orthopedic clinics deal with compound fractures and other complex breaks.
Yet because Glade sees patients who have cracked their bones, it is standard for him to offer the gortex-lined cast to all his patients.
'The only time I don't feel comfortable using (the gortex) is with a really small child,' Glade said.
'A gortex liner does not conform to an arm or leg as well as the standard cotton-lined cast is able to. A child's arm does not have the contrast between the arm and the hand to hold the cast on. As soon as the child walks out of the office, the cast slides off the arm,' he said.
The cost for the gortex-lined cast is more expensive. The patient, however, is billed for a cast and does not pay the extra amount. In determining which cast to use, the severity of the break and the need to get a tight fit is most important -- not the cost.