Various techniques have been developed for use in maintaining facial bones in place after, for example, surgery. Such nose splints are primarily designed to maintain constant pressure on precise areas of the nose to prevent swelling or distortion thereof that can potentially cause abnormal healing of the nose. Accordingly, various types of nose splints have been developed such as plaster molded nose splints, and nose splints integrated into facial masks. Further, nose splints have been developed that include a malleable but firm material such as a soft metal that can be conformed to a patient's nose and attached to the patient's nose and surrounding tissue by adhesives of various types. This latter type of nose splint has advantages over the former types in ease of application and aesthetic appearance. However, when such a nose splint is contoured to a patient's nose, the inner surfaces of the splint that contact the patient's nose can fold or crease in unwanted or inappropriate ways. Such folding or creasing can distort the skin of the patient's nose (if the adhesive is sufficiently strong to pull the skin and tissue into the folds or creases generated by the bending of the splint about the nose), or the folds and creases of the nose contacting portions of the nose splint might not sufficiently adhere to the patient's nose and thereby allow the splint to more easily detach from the patient unexpectedly.
An example of a malleable adhesively-applied nose splint in the prior art is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1, such a nose splint 20 is shown in a configuration prior to application to a patient's nose. The nose splint 20 includes a layered splinting panel 24 that at least includes a layer of malleable yet relatively firm material, such as aluminum, and a layer of resilient material such as a foam and/or a polymer material. Further, the surface 28 of the panel 24 may have an adhesive coating thereon for attaching to the skin on and about the patient's nose. Additionally, the nose splint 20 may also include a nose pad 32 that is intended to extend along the ridge of the nose as shown in FIG. 2. Note that the nose pad 32 has a relatively simple geometric configuration, wherein the surfaces of the nose pad meet at right angles to one another.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the nose splint 20 is applied to patient's nose 36, the nose pad 32 cannot easily conform to the curvature of the patient's nose due to the geometry of the nose pad. As FIG. 2 illustrates, the nose pad may have one or more creases 40 since the pad does not have a configuration that allows or compensates for the bending of the panel 24 about the patient's nose so that a smooth contoured surface is provided along the ridge of the patient's nose. Further, in addition to the creases 40, voids 44 are created wherein the panel 24 is not adhesively attached to the patient's nose. The adjacent portions of the nose pad 32 adjacent to such voids may be excessively compressed against the patient's nose in comparison to other portions of the nose pad 32 when the substantially block-like nose pad 32 is forced to conform to the arcuate ridge of a patient's nose. Thus, this excessive pressure adjacent to the voids 44 has a tendency to crinkle the patient's skin into the creases 40 and can cause the voids 44 to increase over time as the adhesive on the surface 28 of the panel 24 weakens. Thus, it would be advantageous to have a nose splint that reduced or prevented the creases 40 (and voids 44), and the associated wrinkling of the patient's nasal tissue into such creases. Further, it would be advantageous to have a nose splint where the pressure of the nose splint along the ridge of the nose is substantially uniform.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds