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Lymphedema Compression Garment

A remedy for lower extremity Lympedema sufferers, that solves the problem of swollen blistered toes

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Modern day science has developed many solutions for sufferers of secondary Lymphedema of the extremities. People who have lymphedema of the legs have good remedies for compression of their legs, but often this leaves them with few solutions for their swollen toes. We propose to create a new compression garment using laser-cut, state of the art, fabrics to thoughtfully wrap the swollen toes of a few Lymphedema sufferers. A successful outcome of the project will be smaller, more normal sized toes for the individual patient.

September 8, 2017

1. Identified two initial test subjects for toe wraps:  Jon and Irwin.  Both suffer from Lympedema, and have swollen legs and toes.  Jon simply has swelling and Irwin has both swelling and uclers.

2.  Acquired thin sheet latex and thin cotton-lycra fabric as in initial test wrap material.  Began research on lotion impregnated fabric availability and acquisition.

3.  Met with Karen Lombardi, our RN leg wrap expert, who went over design considerations for toes.  Current toe wraps are made of Mollelast 4cm cotton and are too wide.  We discussed a need for thinner tape, 3cm or 2.5cm or less.

  • 1 × Sheet Latex
  • 1 × Cotton Lycra Spandex
  • 1 × Epilog 60W Laser Cutter borrowed time on the Laser Cutter at NYC Resistor Hackerspace

  • Compression Garment version 4

    astridav10/17/2017 at 03:53 0 comments

    1. Compression Garment version 4, presented basically a lengthened version of number 3.  Again in cotton-lycra.

    2. This was the most successful design thus far.

    3.  Additional straps were added in this design for test wrapping the foot.

    4.  Jon saw shrinkage on average of 0.5cm on each of his toes with 24 hours of wrapping.

  • Compression Garment version 3

    astridav10/16/2017 at 22:24 0 comments

    1.  Developed revised wrap design in cotton only.

    Design file for wraps version 3 lives here: (Lymphedema_wraps3.pdf)

    https://github.com/astridav/Lymphedema

    The ivory section of the file shows the cotton cut.

    Laser cut settings on the 60W Epilog laser were the same for both materials, 100speed/40 power/50 frequence

    2.  Medical tape will be used to hold the end of the wraps on the foot.

    3.  Delivered 8 initial test cuts of wraps to Karen Lombardi, our RN to test on the subjects feet.

    4.  Karen wrapped subject 1 - Jon in the wraps.  The wraps were longer and thinner than previous versions, and worked better.

         Initial results showed some promising swelling reduction, with most toes seeing 3-6mm (6mm on the big toe) in size reduction from a 24 hour wrap period.  Cotton wraps caused no reaction to the sensitive skin in this timeframe.

    5.  Design changes were requested.   We move on to a revised design- design 4, with additional fabric for the big toe wrapping.

  • Compression Garment version 2

    astridav10/16/2017 at 22:14 0 comments

    1.  Developed revised wrap design in both cotton only.

    Design file for wraps version 2 lives here: (Lymphedema_wraps2.pdf)

    https://github.com/astridav/Lymphedema

    The ivory section of the file shows the cotton cut.

    Laser cut settings on the 60W Epilog laser were the same for both materials, 100speed/40 power/50 frequence

    2. The assumption is medical tape will be used to hold the end of the wraps on the foot.

    3.  Delivered 20 initial test cuts of wraps to Karen Lombardi, our RN to test on the subjects feet.

    4.  Karen wrapped subject 1 - Jon in the wraps.  The wraps were short and Karen requested revisions.

         Initial results showed some promising swelling reduction, with most toes seeing 3mm in size reduction from a 24 hour wrap period.  Cotton wraps caused no reaction to the sensitive skin in this timeframe.

    5.  Design changes were requested.   We move on to a revised design- design 3.

  • Compression Garment version 1

    astridav10/16/2017 at 22:14 0 comments

    1.  Developed initial test cut wrap design in both cotton and latex.  Botth test subjects are not allergic to latex, so its possible to test thin latex as a solution.

    Design file for wraps version 1 lives here: (Lymphedema_wraps1.pdf)

    https://github.com/astridav/Lymphedema

    The latex version (shown in beige on the file) contains perforation cuts.  The ivory section of the file shows the cotton cut.

    Laser cut settings on the 60W Epilog laser were the same for both materials, 100speed/40 power/50 frequence

    2. The assumption is medical tape will be used to hold the end of the wraps on the foot.

    3.  Delivered six initial test cuts of wraps to Karen Lombardi, our RN to test on the subjects feet.

    4.  Karen rejected the latex wraps entirely, the subjects complained they were too hot and sticky even for five minutes of wearing.

    5.  Cotton wraps seemed promising but design changes were requested.   We move on to a revised design.

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