Rob Whitehead et al mixing

The afternoon concentrated on the mould making techniques specific for the gel filled appliances. Materials shown were polyurethane, fibreglass and also adaptations that can be made to stone moulds. Three types of polyurethane were shown, each having different properties and a choice of fillers to adapt to individual needs of the mould. There was then time for hands-on construction of a simple mould with the materials. The demonstration of the fibreglass moulding showed that although the procedure is relatively straight forward, a lot of additional equipment and a very efficient extraction system would be required to produce them in an NHS environment.

The second day was focused on using the gels.  Dr Mark Waters gave a short presentation of the silicone gel systems available from Principality Medical. This gave clarity to the system that we would be using throughout the day. A DVD presentation then showed the use of the injection system along with some rather humorous out-takes! Then it was onto more hands-on, packing and injecting the moulds, which continued throughout the rest of the day. We were able to concentrate on any area we wished and with a wide variety of moulds and plenty of material to trial, the day seemed to disappear, either that or time flies when you’re having fun!! Time was also found in the afternoon for demonstrating the use of the de-gassing vessel, packing your own dual cartridge system and a tour of the processing areas of Principality Medical Ltd.

Mark Waters lecturing

Overall, it was a very interesting and informative course, with plenty of freedom to focus on the areas of choice. The comfortable, new facilities, good food, friendly environment and excellent taxi service all enhanced the stay in sunny Newport!

A further course will be run on April 26th-27th 2007.  Any enquiries should be made to mark.waters@primeplas.com or visit http://www.cosmesil.com