Effects of Breathable Disposable Diapers: Reduced Prevalence of Candida and Common Diaper Dermatitis

Abstract

Infants wearing breathable disposable diapers experienced significantly less diaper dermatitis (DD) compared to infants wearing standard, nonbreathable disposable diapers in a series of double-blind clinical trials. Severe DD, including confirmed infection with Candida albicans, was reduced by 38-50% among infants wearing highly breathable (HB) diapers. The prevalence of DD was inversely related to the breathability of the garments. The inhibitory effect of breathable diapers on the survival of Candida was further confirmed in controlled experiments with adult volunteers. A suspension of C. albicans cells was applied to delineated sites on the volar forearm. Each site was then covered by a full-thickness patch from either an HB or a standard diaper. Survival of Candida colonies was reduced by almost two-thirds in the breathable diaper-covered sites compared to the control sites.

The effect of protective genital care protocol on preventing diaper dermatit development in 0 - 18 month old children using antibiotics

“…Diaper dermatit in among the widely seen inflamatory skin disease in babes as well as neonatals [1][2][3]. As most of the parent does not see the diaper dermatit as a disease, and most of the 0 -18 month old 0 -18 month old children are treated at homes the proper prevalence is unknown [4,5].…”

“…The thinness of the 0 -18 month old children's skin compared to adults [3,12], frequent appearence of diarhoea as well as frequent use of antibiotic because of infections lead to an increased risk of the diaper dermatit diease in 0 -18 month old children [3,11]. Also in other studies it has bee shown that skin disease history is one of the risk factor for the diaper dermatit development [1,7], however in one of the study negative results were found [9].…”

“…In one of the study the effect of mother's milk on the severity of diaper dermatit was found [16]. Frequent diarrhea in small 0 -18 month old children increases the development of diaper dermatit [3]. According to researches diarrhoeic babes compared to those without diarroea an increased risk of the diaper dermatit was found [1,[7][8][9].…”

“…Diarrhoeic condition leads to increase speed of intestine and therefore feces with large amount of digestive enzymes. 0 -18 month old children's skin contact with the feces increase accordingly and thereby fecal enzymes such as protease and lipase lead to destruction of skin's stratum corneum and therefore diaper dermatit development risk easily occurs [3].…”

“…So the intestine regions with decreased resistance become easier to be infected by fungi. The best examples of fungus colonisation are mouth fungus infection (oral thrush) as well as diarrhoea from the disturbed intestine function [3]. Microorganisms were found to play role on the diaper dermatit development.…”