| abstract |
An adhesive composition, and the surgical dressing of which it is a part, in which the composition takes the form of a water-absorbing and water-swellable hydrocolloid material distributed throughout the interstices of a three-dimensional, open-mesh, randomly-oriented network of flexible, water-insoluble, polymeric filaments, such filaments being surface coated by a tacky, water-insoluble adhesive material that has an adherence affinity for the filaments and that secures such coated filaments together at their points or zones of contact. When hydrated, the hydrocolloid material swells and become a gelatinous continuous phase, with the network of filaments expanding to retain the hydrated hydrocolloid material within the dressing. Despite the phase change, the water-insoluble adhesive material is also retained within the dressing because of its strong adherence to the filaments of the network. |