They differ quite widely; the FFD is a large, bulky dressing sewn into the middle of a long ( 2m?) cotton (i.e. not stretchy) bandage. his is good for applying a lot of pressure but diffucult to apply because you have to unroll the whole lot and have trailing bandage ends dangling in the filth. The opther problem is that your FFD from an army surplus supplier will probably dated to expire sometime in the the first half of the 1990's!
The Israeli style dressing is a less bulky, but equally absorbent dressing sewn to the first few inches of a wide, elasticated dressing. The key things here are:
a) Application is a doddle - apply the pad and unwind around the limb. At the end of the bandage is either a clip or pressure bar (depending on which model you have) which 'finsihes it off.
b) FFDs were great as they came in a plastic puch whcih probably was waterproof hot off the production line 20 years ago but the isreali dreing come double bagged and vacuum wrapped. These dressings can live in the bottom of your bergan for years without fear of them decomposing or becoming unsterile.
Isreaili style dressings are commercially available from
First Care for around £6 from a couple of suppliers. We have just received a load of
SP Services own brand "T6" dressings which we will be playing with this weekend, for around half the price. Will report back.
