U.S. patent application number 11/059721 was filed with the patent office on 2006-08-17 for device and method for foot hygiene and the prevention and treatment of infected feet.
Invention is credited to Daniel Reis, Bat Sheva Rosental-Reis.
Application Number | 20060179547 11/059721 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36814077 |
Filed Date | 2006-08-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060179547 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Rosental-Reis; Bat Sheva ;
et al. |
August 17, 2006 |
Device and method for foot hygiene and the prevention and treatment
of infected feet
Abstract
A novel "open toes" garment or ribbon which "snakes" from toe
cleft to toe cleft each optionally impregnated with a suitable
medicament for example a deodorant or an antifungal agent to treat
infected feet such as athlete's foot and a non-medicated open foot
garment for prevention and non-reoccurrence of said infection is
disclosed. The garment or ribbon act as toe cleft ventilators and
toe separators.
Inventors: |
Rosental-Reis; Bat Sheva;
(Haifa, IL) ; Reis; Daniel; (Haifa, IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Professor Daniel Reis
9 Taashur Street
HAIFA
34656
IL
|
Family ID: |
36814077 |
Appl. No.: |
11/059721 |
Filed: |
February 17, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/239 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A43B 7/26 20130101; A61F
13/064 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
002/239 |
International
Class: |
A41B 11/00 20060101
A41B011/00; A43B 17/00 20060101 A43B017/00 |
Claims
1. An open sock (foot mitten) as described herein or ribbon which
snakes from toe cleft to toe cleft, optionally impregnated with a
suitable active medicament that is used for the treatment and
prevention of foot ailments.
2. A foot mitten or ribbon according to claim 1 wherein the mitten
or ribbon is made of a suitable moisture absorbing fabric of any
thickness.
3. The fabric according to claim 2 is selected from paper,
parchment, natural or synthetic fiber moisture absorbing material
or any other moisture absorbing material.
4. A medicament according to claim 1 wherein the medicament is an
active antifungal agent.
5. An open sock according to claim 1 optionally impregnated with a
suitable medicament used for the treatment or prevention of foot
ailments.
6. A ribbon according to claim 1 wherein the ribbon is optionally
impregnated with a suitable medicament used for the treatment or
prevention of foot ailments.
7. A therapeutic method of applying a suitable active medicament to
the toe clefts of an infected foot wherein the active medicament is
impregnated in an open sock or ribbon according to claim 1 which
maintains constant and continual contact with person's toe clefts,
comprising: wearing the open sock or applying the ribbon onto a
user's toe clefts, the said sock or ribbon being fabricated from a
moisture absorbing material and optionally impregnated with an
active medicament.
8. A method according to claim 7 wherein said foot infection is
characterized by athlete's foot exposing the Tinea pedis foot area
by wearing the open sock or applying the ribbon between the toe
clefts each of which is optionally impregnated with an active
antifungal agent.
9. An active medicament delivery system to specific skin areas of
the foot wherein the medicament impregnated in the open sock or
ribbon according to claim 1 leaches out onto and into the skin
areas in which it is in contact.
Description
REFERENCES CITED
[0001] TABLE-US-00001 U.S. PUBLISHED Pat. APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
2001/00465514A1 November 2001 Loaiz 2004/0161452A1 August 2004
Petit U.S. Pat. DOCUMENTS 4,865,844 September 1989 Blank et al
5,641,481 June 1997 Koniger 5,819,438 October 1998
Wanniarachchi
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
[0002] O'Braun-Falco et al, pp 219-246, Dermatology, Springer,
Berlin 1991 [0003] Borko & Gabbay, The FASEB Journal express
article 10. 1096. Published online Sep. 2, 2004.
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The invention relates to foot hygiene by ventilating and
gently opening the toe clefts and the treatment and control of
dermatomycosis and their pathogens, perspiration and body odor by
applying a medicated delivery system to specific areas of the foot.
In particular the method consists of treating an infected foot by
wearing a novel open sock (foot mitten) or a toe snake ribbon,
herein defined as ribbon, and optionally impregnated with a
suitable active medicament such as for example an antifungal agent.
The active medicament impregnated in the garment leaches out of the
open sock or ribbon onto and into the skin with which it is in
contact. Furthermore the method consists in the prevention of
infection or recurrence by wearing the open sock or applying said
ribbon that are not necessarily impregnated with an active
medicament to ensure good feet hygiene between the toe clefts.
2. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention relates to a new medical garment. In
particular the invention consists of a medicated toeless sock or
pair of open socks or toe ribbon which snakes from toe cleft to toe
cleft which are optionally impregnated with an active medicament
such as for example anti-fungal agent or agents incorporated into
the fabric of the foot mitten or mittens, that would be used to
cure or prevent dermatomycosis such as, for example, athlete's foot
(tinea pedis) and other similar foot ailments.
[0006] It is another object of the present invention to provide a
reliable and durable medicated foot mitten or ribbon that may be
easily manufactured and marketed and if desired may be manufactured
for cosmetic purposes to promote foot hygiene.
[0007] The clefts between the toes are often moist and not
ventilated because of the close proximity of the toes to one
another. Furthermore the ventilation is considerably reduced by
wearing socks and closed shoes or boots. This may cause in the
presence of moisture an optimal culture medium for the rapid growth
of bacteria and fungi. Vast numbers of people suffer from sweaty
putrid feet with or without fungus infection, commonly occurring in
the toe clefts (athlete's foot or tinea pedis. These infections are
treated by applying antifungal powders, deodorants or creams
containing a variety of active medicaments. Unfortunately, these
infections have a tendency to frequently reoccur. Therefore there
is a need for a method of treatment and prevention of infection
involving treating the foot by means of a ventilated device that
will keep the toe clefts dry to prevent infection and, when
infection is present, a method delivering the active medicaments to
the common site of the infection, namely the toe clefts.
[0008] The delivery system applied to the specific site should
ideally, be continuous over time, whilst ventilation and moisture
absorption occurs simultaneously. After curing the infected site
there must be provided an ongoing prophylactic treatment, both by
periodic preventive delivery of active medicaments and by long term
prevention of moisture and ventilation in the toe clefts.
[0009] The open socks can be worn like ordinary socks for foot
hygiene thus allowing the open socks to act as an anti-sweat agent
eliminating repulsive odors and ventilation of toe clefts including
anti-itching. The socks of the invention are manufactured from a
suitable absorbent such as cotton and can be of cosmetic in
appearance. The socks can be of any thickness depending on the
amount of moisture resorbtion required or if required a suitable
amount of active impregnated medicament to be delivered.
3. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
[0010] Dermatomycosis is an ailment widely spread and potentially
psychologically highly adverse to the patient on account of their
frequently cosmetic implications. Tinea pedis ("athlete's foot") in
particular may be termed a widespread dermatomycosis considered
highly unpleasant. Its occurrence is estimated at 15 to 30% in
Europe and North America. It is mainly caused by the ubiquitous
dermatophytes, mostly trichophyton rubrum, trichophyton
mentagrophytes and epidermophyton floccosum which invade and attack
keratinized skin areas of the body, causing itching, maceration,
cracking, and scaling of skin areas of the feet and other parts of
the body. Furthermore it may spread to the toe nails (tinea
unguium), to the hands (tinea manus) and to other body parts, and
may be introduced together with bacterial infections and/or a
fungal infection by means of candida, or a skin ailment, with a
clinical appearance practically not different from tinea pedis,
which also may extend to other body locations, and may be entirely
caused by either or both of the last stated two infections. Very
frequently this ailment is accompanied by bromidrosis (foul
smelling perspiration) which is widely considered being caused by
bacteria, and consequently raises a serious cosmetic problem.
Predispositional factors in particular for tinea pedis are
hyperidrosis (excessive sweating) and acrocyanosis (circulatory
disorder in which the hands, and less commonly the feet, are
persistently cold, blue, and sweaty.) which frequently is
accompanied by local hyperidrosis. When untreated, the ailment is
mostly chronic. However, even when treated by the presently
available methods and observance of all required hygienic
procedures, it is not often curable, and relapse, especially in the
presence of the above cited predispositional factors, is frequent
(for overview of present day treatments of dermatomycosis, see
O'Braun-Falco et al, Dermatology, Springer, Berlin 1991, pp
219-246). Problems are also encounted when disinfecting wear,
especially shoes. As a rule, solutions containing formaldehyde
(formalin) are often recommended, which however, may trigger
allergies and therefore cannot be considered an ideal resolution on
account of the known health dangers of formaldehyde. Unpleasant
body odors arises both from the elimination of foul smelling
substances from the feet and other parts of the body as well as
from the effects of bacteria and/or oxygen on substances eliminated
from the body that initially were without or with little odor but
which in the process are converted into strongly odorous
decomposition products.
[0011] Odor formation can be controlled on the one hand by reducing
or preventing the separation of the body's elimination products, in
particular sweat. This results in a deodorizing effect. Odor
formation may be controlled further by preventing already
eliminated substances from producing a foul smell, in particular
(a) eliminating the decomposing bacteria, (b) preventing oxygen
from effectively reacting (oxidation) by conversion into olfactory
components. There are a number of methods utilizing active
anti-fungal agents that are formulated for topical application,
such as undecylenic acid and tolnaftate to treat or prevent foot
diseases such as tinea pedis.
[0012] Ventilated garments such as ventilated shoes are known from
Wanniarachchi U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,438 describes a method for
providing positive air ventilation for closed-toe shoes that
consists of an air pump secured to the top of the shoe.
[0013] Petit's US Published Patent Application No. 2004/0161452
refers to a drug-dispensing dressing for administering a fluid
containing an antifungal agent to a fungus infected nail on a toe
or a finger. Petit's medicated dressing treats only the toe or
finger nail fungus infections.
[0014] Loaiza's US Published Patent Application No. 2001/004514
describes and claims a medicated sock that has an anti-fungal
medication impregnated into to a nylon-type sock and reduces or
eliminates the time and effort needed when applying the antifungal
medicament directly to the foot of a user. There is no
toe-separating sock described or claimed therein. The sock is a
complete sock that one can buy in any clothes shop that is
impregnated with an antifungal agent to be worn underneath another
outer sock. It is impossible that a complete sock can come into
intimate contact with the toe clefts and thereby separate the toes,
ventilate the toe clefts, and if required deliver the desired
anti-fungal agent specifically to this site of maximal fungal
infection. The use of nylon is inappropriate since a nylon fabric
will tend to retain moisture instead of minimizing the dampness
which is essential for treating sweaty, malodorous and/or tinea
infected feet. It is obvious that Loaiza's medicated sock teaches
away from our invention described herein.
[0015] Borkow's publication (Borkow et al; The FASEB Journal
express article 10, 1096/fj.04-2029fje. (Published 2 Sep. 2004);
discusses copper-impregnated garments with biocidal activities.
Although it is mentioned that copper impregnated antifungal socks
may alleviate the symptoms of athlete's foot are mentioned, these
socks are just ordinary socks and not the toeless socks as
described in our invention.
[0016] There are many different types of toe separators
commercially available from Foot Care manufacturers. These are
usually made of variously shaped pieces of soft silicon, felt or
foam material that may be impregnated with soothing oils or
aromatic substances. These are placed separately between the toes
which chafe each other to prevent the interdigital friction. The
toe separators are not garments and none have the function of the
toeless sock of the present invention.
[0017] The inter-digital "snake" ribbon (FIG. 4) is different from
all other garments or pieces of material which are used for
ventilating, drying and medicinal delivery to the toe clefts (for
example, pads, wedges, pledgelets, gauzes and cotton wool) in that
it is specifically designed to remain stable and in position in the
toe clefts without dislodgement particularly when socks are worn
over the ribbon.
[0018] Furthermore the "snake" ribbon is applied by weaving in and
out of the depths of the toe clefts. By making a double weave, to
and fro, the entire surface of the toes come into contact with the
ribbon material should this be desired for therapeutic treatment
such as athlete's foot.
3. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0019] The terms "antimycotic agent" and "antifingal agent" are
used interchangeably herein to mean any medicament that either
kills or inhibits the growth of a pathogenic fungus infecting the
toe clefts.
[0020] The terms "toeless or open sock" and "foot mitten" are used
interchangeably and are understood to be the same foot garment.
Furthermore the said sock may be a garment not covering the ankle
as shown in FIG. 6 or may be an ankle open sock as shown in FIG.
8.
[0021] Other, objects, features and advantages of the present
invention will become more readily apparent from the following
detailed description of the preferred embodiment when considered
with the attached figures and appended claims.
[0022] With reference to FIG. 1.
[0023] The toe clefts (1) are normally potential spaces only since
the toes lie close to one another. This is particularly true to
inside footwear; here the toes are often even more
approximated.
[0024] FIG. 2.
[0025] The foot mitten, in its short tarsal version (4), is a foot
glove with toe extensions for each toe (3) reaching only to the
interphalangal joints so as to leave the end of the toe with its
nail exposed. The inter-toe webs of the mitten, when completely
pulled on, by virtue of the thickness of the material, bring about
a gentle spreading, separating, and ventilating of the toe cleft
(2). The mitten is made of a suitable material such as for example,
paper, parchment, natural or synthetic fiber material of various
weaves that is moisture absorbing but not moisture retaining. The
material is used as a disposable foot hygiene garment to prevent
foot and interdigital sogginess, malodor and fungus infection. It
is also used to treat tine pedis infections in the toe clefts and
foot region, either in combination with various local and general
active medicaments or, in an additional embodiment, as an
impregnated version in which the anti-fungal agent has been
previously impregnated into the material of the foot mitten.
[0026] FIG. 3.
[0027] The material in the toe clefts is thickened, or tiny pouch
in the material is incorporated (5) in order to bring about a
further separation of the toes to provide a better more copious
reservoir for the medicament to be delivered specifically mainly to
the toe clefts.
[0028] FIG. 4.
[0029] An embodiment of the concept of toe cleft hygiene,
separation, and ventilation having the same function as those
described above in FIG. 2. Instead of a foot mitten a round or flat
ribbon which winds from toe cleft to cleft as shown (6), and is
made of any material as herein described vide supra as used for the
foot mitten.
[0030] FIG. 5.
[0031] The tarsal version (7) extends from the interphalangeal
joints to the midfoot.
[0032] FIG. 6.
[0033] The heel inclusion version (8) has a dual purpose: (i) by
including the heel to the foot mitten as shown in FIG. 1, the close
approximation of the material of the mitten in the toe clefts is
ensured by the stretching force on the toe clefts as the foot
mitten is pulled backwards around the heel. Also this embodiment
allows for treatment for the skin of the whole foot incase this is
indicated by the extent of the fungal infection or other similar
skin condition requiring the impregnated version. The foot mitten
shown in FIG. 3 is equally applicable to the heel inclusion
version.
[0034] FIGS. 7 and 8.
[0035] A further embodiment wherein the foot mitten as shown in
FIG. 1 includes the ankle region (9) with the same functions (5) as
those described above.
[0036] FIG. 9.
[0037] The "snake-like" ribbon (6) viewed from the side.
[0038] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that
changes could be made to the embodiments described above without
departing from the broad invention concept thereof. It is
understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the
particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover
modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention
as defined by the appended claims.
* * * * *