Patent Application
20150257453
The invention resides in the field of devices for skin treatments and of methods of repairing cracked skin.
Skin cracks occur most commonly on the tips of the fingers, on the feet at the heels and balls of the feet, toes and at the elbows. They can also occur anywhere on the body that the skin gets excessively dry. As the skin at these locations gets dry, the skin often splits or cracks and produces a painful open wound. If untreated these cracks get bigger and more painful, making use of your fingers, toes, and/or feet difficult, especially when they bend.
There are many ways to treat skin conditions due to dryness. Most current methods to treat skin cracks do not target skin cracks specifically and are thus ineffective in promoting the healing of skin cracks. These methods also only keep the skin moisturized for a very short time period, which is typically insufficient to provide any real healing of skin cracks. The washing of hands and other similar activities also works to remove applied topical moisturizers from the skin allowing the condition to worsen. These topical products may also be wicked away by the fibers of socks, etc.
One method used to heal skin cracks, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,366, is to liberally coat the hands and feet with a moisturizing agent and then cover the affected hand or foot with a glove or sock. The glove or sock minimizes the transfer of the moisturizer to other objects and helps to retain moisturizer on the affected skin, but it does not provide any means of heat retention. This method also moisturizes the entire hand or foot, but does not target skin cracks specifically. As the hands or feet are inserted into the gloves or socks, the moisturizer is actually rubbed off of the fingertips, toes and the heel and the fibers wick away the ointment or salve, since no impervious layer is employed. Because skin cracks typically appear at the end of the finger, toe or on the heel, the removal of the moisturizer from these areas diminishes the efficacy of this method. Moisturizing with gloves and socks is also impractical for most people because they cannot wear the medicament filled gloves or socks during normal activities. As a result, the use of medicament filled gloves or socks are typically limited to sleeping hours. Many people find this method inconvenient and ineffective for treating skin cracks because it does not provide any therapeutic benefit during activities that actually contribute to excessive skin dryness.
The device described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,818 directly targets skin cracks. This device is used to pull the skin crack closed in order for the wound to heal. It does not provide for any medicament application in order to treat pain or infection nor does it have any means of heat retention.
Skin cracks need both concentrated treatment with a therapeutic agent and a moist healing environment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,305 describes a medicine strip with a well for medicine. One problem with this device is that it is designed to allow for air circulation around the wound. This feature renders the device in U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,305 unable to treat skin cracks because it promotes drying of the wound, thus worsening the condition. Air circulation also prevents the medicament used in this device from consistently maintaining body temperature so as to promote absorption and healing. This device is designed to be filled with medicament after it is applied to the wound and it may also be refilled without removal from the skin. The refilling of this device also contributes to wound drying and poor temperature control by repeated exposure to the outside environment. The dressing in U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,305 exerts mild pressure around the wound because of the adhesive strip holding it down. This aspect of the device affects blood flow to the wound impeding healing.
The devise described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,943 is designed to protect a wound from external insult and to deliver medication to that wound if needed. Although this device is capable of elongation, it is not designed to bend at the angle necessary to treat a skin crack. Bending this device would cause the bubble to collapse, effectively eliminating the device's ability to cushion a wound. Collapsing of the bubble would also force the unintentional evacuation of the medicament from the bubble.
Coating agents that are brushed onto the skin crack are also available for the treatment of skin wounds. These coating agents are intended for topical application to the wound. The coating agent then solidifies, much like a liquid bandage. This method is effective for simply covering and protecting the wound, but it has very limited healing qualities and has no medicinal or pain relieving effects.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,896 provides an impervious layer between two cloth-like sock layers. This is less than desirable for cracked feet since the linen layer envelopes the entire foot and lower ankle, i.e., the entire extremity tending to discomfort, too much heat, and possibly even an impediment to circulation that could lead to edema.
U.S. Publication No. 2004/0187345 A1 of Sep. 30, 2004 shows another approach, namely a disposable insert of impervious plastic. It, however, covers the entire foot causing discomfort to areas not needing treatment and is loose, unattached to the sock, which causes problems of comfort, bunching, and risk of undesired removal.
Finally, U.S. Publication No. 2006/0185188 A1 of Aug. 24, 2006 does disclose an impervious inner sock liner, but it covers the entire foot, top and bottom, and the ankle and lower leg, resulting it too much coverage of non-treatment needed areas which provides excess heat, moisture and discomfort in areas not needed for treatment. Thus, there is a need for an effective method and product which treats only the areas needing treatment, while allowing the balance of the skin of the foot, hand or the like to remain normal and in comfort and in free exchange with the air, at least to the extent a normal sock allows it.
This invention has as its primary need fulfillment of the above need with a new method and product, not heretofore available; one which treats only affected skin area and one that allows adjacent unaffected areas to remain in a normal comfortable state. For the foot this usually means the heel, sole of the foot and toes are available for treatment and the top of the foot remains as in a normal sock. The areas in need of treatment thanks to the internal sewed in barrier, are subjected to moist heat which aids the treating process with ointments etc.
A barrier lined cover device, for example, a sock for treating dry cracked skin of the foot of the wearer of the sock. The sock has an exterior surface, and an interior surface and a moisture impervious flexible liner configured roughly like a ballet slipper, sewn into the interior surface in the sole area to retain heat and moisture on the wearer's skin in that area only. The slipper-like barrier covers only areas in need of treatment and the balance of the foot is in contact with the remaining portion of the sock for normal air exchange. The same type of device can be used for hands and other areas having dry cracked skin.
The present invention is drawn to a device which is designed for comfort and to maintain and retain moisture, heat and medicaments to treat hands, feet, elbows, knees, etc. that are prone to dry cracked skin. For purposes of illustration, the invention is described with particularity for a preferred treatment sock embodiment, but with the understanding that other items such as gloves, knee pads, elbow pads and the like may be constructed with equal ease.
Treatment sock 10 of the present invention includes a leg or ankle portion 12 that is integrally knit with a foot portion 14. The fabric of the sock 10 is in a conventional sock fabric and may include fabrics such as fibrous cloth fabrics, synthetic or natural, like nylon, cotton, wool or blends thereof. The sock 10 includes a heel portion 16, an arch portion 18, a ball portion 20 and a toe portion 22.
For making the device of the present invention, the sock 10 can be turned inside out and placed on a foot mold. Thereafter the impervious layer 23 often in the shape of a slipper see top 23 (see
The toe of the liner is created by cutting out a minor image of approximately one-third of the top of the pattern of the sole pattern. After cutting this piece, it is folded back and stitched on the sides so that the pocket will enclose the top of the foot. After sewing darts on the liner, it is placed on the foot mold and ready to tack into place over the sock 10. The liner 23 is sewn securely so that the liner aligns perfectly with the natural seams of the sock 10 and the heel of the liner 23 is secured at the corners and attached at the top of the sock 10. A layer of sock material is then sewn over the linen.
It can be seen when the treating sock 10 is placed in the foot the liner slipper cover 23 is sandwiched between sock sole 25 and sole top layer 26 so that, the liner does not affect the entire foot or the bottom portion of the leg, but only those areas most likely and prone to cracking, i.e., heel, sole arch and toes. The slipper liner 23 is heat and moisture impervious, and retains the body's natural heat and moisture resulting in warming of the extremity. Any medicament that is placed on the areas of the foot enclosed in the slipper liner 23 does not wick away and retains heat and moisture which enhances medicament effectiveness. The heat and the moisture and any medicament or ointment are thus allowed to treat the areas needing treatment, while other areas not needing treatment, such as the top of the foot, are comfortably subjected to a normal sock environment only. Thus, it can be seen that the liner 23 in the treating sock 10 functions as a barrier between the extremity and the external elements when used in conjunction with topical moisturizers, prescribed prescription creams, etc. It facilitates absorption into the affected extremity to deliver the therapeutic healing properties deep into the epidermis layer, and retain heat and moisture where needed. This results in vasodilation, revascularization and the moisture repair process begins. Quickly a reduction in inflammation, a reduction in localized pain, softened calluses and granulation of a new tissue formation all begin. And, the sock 10 is comfortable, doesn't bunch and doesn't deliver medicament where it is not needed.
It is also important to note that barrier liner 23, being sewn into the sock 10, also stretches with the sock, since most liner materials have some elasticity. The result is comfort and no bunching.
Therefore, it can be seen that the invention accomplishes at least all of its objectives and differs from the art discussed herein in several respects. First, it dries cracked feet in as little as eight hours. Secondly, it recirculates the body's own moisture and heat to soften calluses and cracked skin and resists new cracks from forming. Third, pain is reduced. Fourth, the sock only provides the impervious layer on the affected areas where it is needed not everywhere on the lower leg and foot that is normally covered by a sock.
Having described the invention objectives, it goes without saying that certain modifications apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the following claims.
