Though The terms ‘dressing’ and ‘bandage’ are often used to mean the same thing,  In fact, the term ‘dressing’ refers more correctly to the primary layer in contact with the wound

A bandage is a piece of material used either to covering wounds, to keep dressings in place, to applying pressure controlling bleeding, to support a medical device such as a splint, or on its own to provide support to the body. It can also be used to restrict a part of the body.

Dressing

Dressings are used to cover wounds, prevent contamination and control bleeding.

In providing first aid we commonly used self-adhesive dressings or gauze dressings :

• Adhesive dressings are used mainly for small wounds. They come in many different sizes,

including specific types for placement on fingertips.

• Gauze dressings are thick, cotton pads used to cover larger wounds. They are held in place with

tape or by wrapping with a gauze strip (bandage).

Dressings must be sterile and absorbent to deter the growth of bacteria and should be left in place

until the wound heals, unless it needs to be regularly cleaned.

Bandage

The three major types of bandages are:

roller bandages (a long surgical bandage rolled up for convenient application),

tubular bandages (tubular bandage is used for a wide variety of applications. It is used to retain wound dressings and padding material, as well as to protect the skin under plaster and synthetic casts and compression bandages and

triangular bandages. ( Triangular Bandage are primarily used for

all Bandages from Roller Bandages, Triangular bandages, and Tubular Bandage are necessary for :

• covering wounds,
• applying pressure controlling bleeding, or
• supporting a strain or sprain.

There is a specific bandage made for each of these tasks