Introducing LiquiCell® Shear Points® Skin Friction Protectors

Birchwood Laboratories Medical Division

Eden Prairie, Minnesota: The elimination of Never Events and their associated personal and financial costs has been at the forefront of acute care and long term care agendas for years. Pressure from the federal government and private insurers continues to build on healthcare professionals and facilities to eliminate those conditions identified as reasonably preventable. Skin breakdown is among the most prevalent, costly and dangerous of these dreaded Never Events.

Recent research has shown that the previously under-appreciated presence of shear and friction are significant factors in the development of skin breakdown. Friction of the skin against a surface results in shearing of the soft tissues. This shearing causes the tissues to be stretched or torn thus reducing blood flow to the affected area.

Many products address pressure, but skin friction and the resulting shear forces that cause a reduction in blood flow, soft tissue damage and ultimately skin breakdown are often ignored. The new LiquiCell Shear Points Skin Friction Protectors, containing proprietary LiquiCell technology, provide a revolutionary new shear and friction reducing tool to assist healthcare professionals in their mission to eliminate Never Events.

LiquiCell is a medical technology that helps prevent skin tissues from being stretched or torn resulting in optimized blood flow. The ultra-thin cells contain a liquid that is in constant motion allowing the body to glide or float with an object both reducing shear and friction of the skin and improving blood perfusion to the tissues.

The ultra-thin and nearly invisible self-adhesive LiquiCell Shear Points provide a synthetic, external bursa that aids in the reduction of shear and friction of the skin and can be applied to the bridge of the nose, back of the heel, ankle or any other bony prominence where shear and friction exist.