Chest Seal Kits 101: Choosing the Right Kit for Life-Saving Treatment

From years of experience in trauma care and manufacturing trauma care supplies, I've seen too many situations where people are unsure about the chest seal kits: how they work, how to choose. Making the wrong choice could end in disaster. In this guide, I'll show you everything based on the front-line feedback to ensure you make the right decision.

What is a Chest Seal Kit?

A chest seal kit is used to treat open chest wounds, mostly caused by gunshots. These wounds can lead to something called a sucking chest wound or pneumothorax. When air gets into the space between the lung and the chest wall, it causes the lung to collapse. A chest seal stops air from getting into that space and releases the air through vent channels.

A chest seal kit includes:

• Vented or non-vented chest seals

• Gauze or wipe to clean the blood

• Gloves for hygiene

How to Use a Chest Seal

When an open wound on the chest happens, you need to apply the chest seal kit fast. Here are the steps:

1. Wipe the dirt and blood with gauze. Normally, the wipes and gauze are included in the chest seal kit.

2. Peel off the seal backing.

3. Place the chest seal directly over the wound. Centralize the vent to the wound.

4. Check for other wounds. Gunshots often have a through-and-through wound. The entrance and exit wound. If there is another wound on the back, apply the second one to seal the air.

5. Check breathing always and watch for any signs of tension pneumothorax.

   

   
   

Differences between vented and non-vented chest seals

There are various kinds of chest seal in the market, but most of them are created based on 2 kinds: Vented and Non-vented. Some vented chest seals come with vented channel, some of them come with a valve, all of them work well if the adhesion is working well.

Non-vented one is working as a seal only and will not allow air to be released.

Why quality matters: Bad chest seals can be dangerous, nothing is better than a bad chest seal

You can always trust top brands from the USA, such as Hyfin and SAM. During our testing, these brands works perfectly even in extreme conditions.

But it's understandable that not everyone could afford such experience costs; China-made chest seals are starting to become a good choice as well. Unfortunately, not all chest seals work well to seal the wounds.

Some cheap chest seals were of poor quality; these seals had glue overflow around the edges and center, it caused problems with sticking and covered the vents.

To satisfy end users, some manufacturers have tried to solve this by switching to industrial-grade glue which comes with heavy chemical smell. Industrial glue isn't designed for medical use.

Using low-quality chest seals or ones with industrial glue can put lives at risk. If this happens, we prefer to seal the wound with CPR mask or tape or any plastic case, it's even MUCH BETTER! It's crucial to choose these chest seals that have been tested and made with medical-grade materials that can handle extreme conditions.

How we test chest seals

We tested chest seals in our lab to make sure how they work in real-life situations.

Here is how we did it:

1. Extreme Weather Testing: We tested the seals at -40°C by a climate chamber, test time 17 hours. We test if the glue sticks. Poor-quality chest seals fail at low temperatures, even at 0°C. Some brands work well in these conditions, like Hyfin, SAM, And eroLock. Click here to see the test result and pictures.

2. Air Release Test: We use an injection device with a plate that mimics a gunshot wound. If the chest seal releases air through the vent, we know it's working. Some bad quality chest seals happened with glue overflow and the vent is covered by glue; the air cannot be released.

3. Blood Release Test: We fill the injection device with liquid and push the injection device. If the blood comes out from the vented channels, we mark it as a successful result. Cheap seals messing up and the blood comes from everywhere; that means the glue is overflowing everywhere.

4. Glue overflow test: After being stocked for a while, some glue overflowed and covered the vent. How does it work for releasing air if this happens? Check the picture below.

Contact us to get a complete test report of all these chest seal kits.

Wholesale Chest seal kits: What to look for

If you are a distributor or business looking for seals in bulk or for your trauma kit, here is what you should consider:

1. Weight: The lighter the chest seal, the better for carrying in IFAK kits, and it makes the trauma kit compact. The AeroLock chest seal weighs only 17G, which is 1/3 of regular chest seals.

2. Cost: Top brands' chest seals are highly reliable, but they tend to be costly, especially for wholesale orders. Affordable Brand balances the price and function.

3. Quality and Adhesion: Test the chest seal in the right way before you make a decision. You may test by temperature, adhesion, weight, size, smell, and stability to find the answer.

Conclusion

If you are buying a chest seal kit for personal use or wholesale, make sure it has been tested that the adhesive holds up under stress, and that it is medical grade.

Remember, a poor-quality chest seal is worse than using nothing at all. If you're unsure about the quality of the chest seal you have, it might be safer to use film and tape to cover the wound (such as CPR face shield).