Whenever you try to shower while wearing a dressing it’s quite a challenge. You already know it will be necessary to substitute it with a clean dry one later. How are you supposed to keep clean if the doctor has told you to keep the bandage dry? Avoid annoying soggy surgical dressings and think about using some of these methods of keeping bandages dry when you are in the shower.
1. Consider putting on a plastic bag. By placing your dressing or plaster cast into a plastic bag, you can avoid it getting wet. Be sure there are no holes in the plastic, then put arm or leg through the opening. Use strong adhesive tape such as duct tape to secure the top portion and prevent any leaks. If you need to keep a bandaged hand dry in the shower, protect it with a rubber glove secured with waterproof tape to avoid leaks.
2. Try plastic wrap. If the placement of the dressing means a bag is no use, try plastic wrap. You should ask a friend to help you with wrapping up your dressing with plastic wrap and in taping around the edges. You must be certain to wrap a place bigger than the bandage.
3. A condom is an imaginative way to protect! When you need to keep a dressing on your finger or your toe, put a condom over the bandage and use waterproof tape to seal up the ends. (Make sure, though, that your rubber isn’t lubricated!)
4. Buy a proper covering for the dressing. A shower bandage cover is a good investment if you are expecting to wear large ones for an extensive period of time. If you are looking for an inexpensive way to keep your dressing completely dry in the shower you can use the ‘Shower Sleeve’, which works well and is under ten dollars. The packages include all that is needed to keep your injury dry while it gets better.
5. Think about a sponge bath. If you actually think it is too hard to keep dry bandages while you take a shower, maybe you should think about trying another method to clean yourself. If the position of the bandage allows, you can sit in your bathtub without inserting the injured part of your body. Equally, possibly all you need to do is have one leg out of the shower cubicle as you speedily wash the rest of yourself. All you then have to do is wipe off your leg with a cloth. While somewhat uncomfortable, it will enable you to keep the dressing dry while you get clean.