Skin-textiles friction: importance and prospects in skin comfort and in healthcare in prevention of skin injuries

Abstract

Frictional characteristics of textiles play a big role in skin comfort and health, and in the development of friction related skin injuries such as tissue deformation, skin damage, decubitus ulcers or pressure ulcers and friction blisters, especially in people with compromised skin conditions and/or immobility. All these skin injuries cause severe pain and can be life threatening. This review paper is focused on decubitus, and how friction from textiles contribute to both skin comfort, and in the formation or prevention of skin injuries such as decubitus. More than 2.5 million individuals develop decubitus annually that costs the US healthcare system $9.1-11.6 billion per year due to increased health care utilization. There’s been a significant amount of research on decubitus alone, unfortunately the role of textiles in formation and prevention of decubitus is yet understudied. This review provided an understanding of the importance of friction in textiles and skin, and factors influencing friction on respective surfaces. Along with demonstrating the mechanism of decubitus ulcer formation and some recent commendable work from textiles point of view, few critical research questions and suggestions for future work have also been provided.