TRANSPARENT HYDROGEL WOUND DRESSING

1 . A wound dressing comprising a hydrogel polymer in sheet form reinforced with a fabric comprising gel-forming fibres which fabric is capable of absorbing exudate to allow the wound to be viewed through the dressing.

2 . A wound dressing as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the gel-forming fibres are chemically modified cellulosic fibres.

3 . A wound dressing as claimed in claim 2 characterised in that the reinforcing fabric is a carboxymethylated cellulose fabric having a degree of substitution of between 0.12 to 0.35 as measured by IR spectroscopy.

4 . A wound dressing comprising a hydrogel polymer in sheet form reinforced with a fabric comprising absorbent fibres.

5 . A wound dressing as claimed in claim 4 characterised in that the absorbent fibres are gel-forming fibres.

6 . A wound dressing as claimed in claim 5 characterised in that the gel-forming fibres are chemically modified cellulosic fibres

7 . A method of treating a wound comprising applying to the wound a wound dressing of claim 1 .

8 . A wound dressing as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the hydrogel is selected from polyurethane gels, biopolymer gels, carboxymethyl cellulose gels, hydroxyethyl cellulose gels, hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose, modified acrylamide and mixtures thereof.

9 . A wound dressing as claimed in claim 4 characterized in that the hydrogel is selected from polyurethane gels, biopolymer gels, carboxymethyl cellulose gels, hydroxyethyl cellulose gels, hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose, modified acrylamide and mixtures thereof.