Creating a moist wound environment and thus accelerating the healing process is one of the most promising opportunities in wound care. Freudenberg Nonwovens is the first company to market a combination of hydroactive fibers and nonwovens made of chitosan fibers.

Chitosan is a biopolymer derived from the shells of sea crustaceans which helps wounds to heal and stems blood loss very swiftly. This shortens treatment time and cost quite substantially, particularly with reference to chronic wounds.

The number of people suffering from diabetes is rising as a result of demographic change along with changes in diet. This leads to challenging specifications for wound care products used for vein and arterial diseases.

As Dr. Oliver Heneric, Business Segment Manager Medical at Freudenberg Nonwovens, explains: “One goal for us is to stimulate the human body’s capacity to heal itself following an acute injury. And the second goal is to help make life easier for people with chronic wounds.”

To meet these goals, Freudenberg Nonwovens has developed solutions featuring chitosan fibers. In combination with a hydroactive nonwoven, these fibers bring new perspectives for the healing process and are already proving their worth in practice.

Advanced wound care: Moist environment accelerates healing

The traditional way to protect smaller wounds is to cover them with a plaster. Freudenberg also offers a broad range of nonwoven products for such treatment methods. However, the challenges in the advanced wound care segment are far greater.

Modern solutions, for example, create a moist wound environment which accelerates wound healing by 50 percent. The materials used must be suitable for sterilization and optimized to suit the wound bed or the patient’s movements. To achieve that, the company uses what are known as hydroactive fibers which allow maximum flexibility in nonwoven performance.

Freudenberg has developed particularly soft materials for wound dressings that can absorb large amounts of exudate. One square meter can absorb up to ten liters of wound fluid. When the dressing comes into contact with the exudate it gels, adapts perfectly to fit the wound bed and accelerates the healing process.

Customized solutions

In order to meet the very diverse specifications that apply to wound care, Freudenberg Nonwovens designs solutions tailor-made to suit individual customers’ requirements. The portfolio includes six standard products where various fiber mixtures and finishing processes are used to manufacture several different types of dressing.

“We not only offer standard products, we are interested in finding the best solution for an individual problem as well,” Heneric says. “That is why we have also acquired a reputation for offering extensive advice and comprehensive development services.” Freudenberg Nonwovens’ international network forms the basis for this.

The cooperation with Japan Vilene Company, for example, one of Freudenberg’s joint venture partners, in the field of transdermal solutions has already culminated in numerous innovations.

Innovative partner for the medical devices industry for over 40 years

Freudenberg Nonwovens was the first company to introduce nonwoven wound dressings in the 1970s under the Vilmed brand: The portfolio of wound treatment products has grown continuously since then.

Freudenberg Nonwovens helped shape medical progress with a steady stream of new developments – from materials for nonwoven compresses ready for use or plasters for patients to complex solutions for medical applications. “Our expertise covers all nonwoven manufacturing technologies and we have a wealth of experience at our disposal,” Heneric says.

“That means we can pull out all the stops for patients’ wellbeing, from elastic backing materials and antimicrobial dressings to thermally strengthened or finished nonwovens and dressings with wound contact layers.” Innovative solutions such as the use of chitosan help Freudenberg Nonwovens to position itself as a reliable and innovative partner for the medical devices industry – both now and in the future.