Abstract

A non-stretchable wound dressing has a flexible, non-stretching cover sheet having adhesive on one side thereof, and having two spaced strip-form gripping tabs at opposite ends thereof. The cover sheet covers a urethane wound dressing with the adhesive of the cover sheet being in contact with the urethane, and the urethane having an adhesive layer on an opposite side thereof. For storage and prior to application to a patient, the adhesive of the urethane wound dressing is in contact with a releasable surface of a carrier, such as a cardboard. For application to a patient, one of the cover sheet gripping tabs is pulled so as to release the cover sheet and wound dressing from the carrier, the cover sheet preventing stretching of the wound dressing. The combination is then applied to a patient, with the adhesive of the wound dressing in contact therewith, again the cover sheet preventing stretching of the wound dressing. The other gripping tab of the cover sheet is then pulled to separate the cover sheet from the wound dressing, leaving the wound dressing on the patient with no stretching thereof. An optional third gripping tab and minor cover sheet may be located beneath the second gripping tab. The first and second tabs may contain a patient binding adhesive layer to allow use of the cover sheet as an occluding wound dressing. A method for the continuous production of a series of such wound dressings permits all components thereof to be fed from rollers, with no alignment or stamping in registry being necessary, thereby greatly increasing the speed and decreasing the cost per unit of the wound dressing.