There’s a range of factors to consider when purchasing continence
management products, and absorbency is one of the most important. Here’s how to choose the best and the most absorbent incontinence product for you.
The Importance of High Absorbency in Incontinence Products
There’s a range of factors to consider when purchasing continence management products, but absorbency rates are a priority. Here’s how to choose the best product for you.
Table of contents
The Importance of High Absorbency in Incontinence Products
The Importance of High Absorbency in Incontinence Products
There’s a range of factors to consider when purchasing continence management products, and absorbency is one of the most important. Here’s how to choose the best and the most absorbent incontinence product for you
Choosing the right level of absorbency
If you or a loved one are dealing with incontinence, you’ll know just how important it is to find a high-quality continence management product. Many factors go into making the best continence management products, and high absorbency levels are among the highest priorities.
When considering which continence management product may be right for you or your family member, there are a number of factors to analyse when making your decision. Here are our tips on prioritising absorbency (as well as some other important considerations).
Why absorbency matters
Different continence management products come with varying levels of absorbency, designed to suit the needs of individual wearers. The higher the absorbency level, the more urine a product can absorb.
However, keep in mind to only choose a product to match your individual needs. If the product is too absorbent, and you, therefore, change less frequently, you risk skin irritation and as the pad will be fuller it will be bulkier and far less comfortable.
ConfidenceClub has an easy ‘Help Me Choose’ quiz that can guide you through choosing the right level of absorbency within your products. Questions are designed to indicate whether or not a higher or lower level of absorbency is required within the product.
Whether you’re experiencing light dripping over a few hours, several tablespoons of urine, or full bladder voids, this guide can help you find the perfect product for your needs. With products designed to suit light bladder weakness issues through to severe incontinence, you’ll find all the support you need within the ConfidenceClub range.
Choosing the right level of absorbency
If incontinence products aren’t absorbing at a rate that matches urinary leakage throughout the day or night, you risk dealing with uncomfortable leaks and exposing the skin to irritation.
Disposable continence management products are designed to absorb and ‘lock away’ urine, keeping the wearer’s skin dry and safe throughout the time you wear them. Ensuring your continence product’s absorbency matches your needs gives you the peace of mind to navigate your day - free from leakage concerns.
Adequate absorbency can also allow for a regular changing schedule with planned times and routines in place minimising the last-minute stress or potential leakages and discomfort.
Whether you’re using incontinence pads or incontinence pants, these should be changed regularly to ensure the wearer remains dry and clean. It’s best to change incontinence pads approximately 3-4 times a day to ensure ongoing comfort and leakage protection.
Whether or not your incontinence product is wet or dry, changing it frequently can help promote good skin hygiene and eliminate odours. As incontinence-associated dermatitis (skin redness) can be a concern to those with incontinence, a regular changing schedule protects against the risk of developing this underlying condition.
High absorbency for comfortable, peaceful evenings
Needing to change a pad or incontinence brief throughout the night can lead to significant disruptions in sleep cycles. Often this sleep disruption leads to being increasingly tired throughout the following day.
In turn, sleeping throughout the day to catch up on sleep then leads to not being tired at night, creating a vicious cycle. Using an incontinence product that’s designed for overnight usage - complete with increased absorbency - ensures you will get a great night’s sleep that’s leak-free.
Generally speaking, we produce less urine at night as our antidiuretic hormone slows the production of urine during sleep. As such, it is not unreasonable to use a higher absorbency pad, placed on during the later
evening to get you through the night until early the next day
Understanding absorbency in incontinence products
Absorbency in pads is not defined by how thick a pad is as this is the fibres not unlike cotton wool, that offer wicking and padding. The absorbency part of the pads are small granules called super absorbent polymers that absorb the moisture, swell and lock it in.
If you have seen the inside of a used pad, you would have seen these “crystals” like small balls of gel
These start their life as tiny grains about the size of table salt grains or fine grains of sand.
Here is a rough guide when you are considering the absorbency level suited for you:
| LOW | MEDIUM | HIGH | SEVERE |
|
Drops, less than ¾ cup over 4 hours |
More than drops, less |
Losing your full bladder 2 – 3 cups over 4 hours |
Complete bladder |
If you are struggling to guess how much urine you are passing, you can do this simple activity. Weigh your new pad prior to putting it on. Once you are ready to change, pop the worn pad in a plastic bag and weigh it again. Record the time frame the pad was on for and the weight difference. 1ml = 1 gm. This is known as the pad weight test. It is recommended that you do this test for a minimum of 24 hours but for a more accurate result we recommend all pads are weighed for three days.
Which Incontinence Products are the Most Absorbent?
Low to Medium Absorbency
Minor to Significant Leakage