From prevention to recovery and diagnosis, Repsol Chemicals is always there to lend a helping hand.

We do our best to stay healthy, but sometimes a visit to the doctor is simply inevitable. Whether you consult a physician or a pediatrician, you’ll be interested to know that yet another specialist is helping them take care of you: plastic.

For instance, the second you walk into the doctor’s office for an exam, your doctor puts on gloves and uses a series of small, disposable devices – the bulk of which are made from or coated with plastic for greater protection.

In the last decade, polyolefins have grown to become one of the most important plastics used in the medical field, given their inert and biocompatible nature. For this reason, they are widely employed in numerous applications that help to improve quality of life.

For example, given the flexibility of materials like polyethylene and polypropylene, they can be used for multiple applications, like medication containers, blister packs, catheters, dialysis equipment, mouthpieces, masks, oxygen supply equipment, containers for the removal of sharp or dangerous instruments, lab equipment and even the packaging containing the aforementioned polyethylene devices, ensuring that no organic waste gets in.

Or EVA copolymers, with properties that make them ideal for the manufacture of instruments that help save lives, such as bags and tubes for blood transfusions, and others that help to boost quality of life, like dental applications or patches.

The use of plastics in medicine allows for greater efficiency in the prevention of disease and reduction of infections. All thanks to disposable, sterile materials like face masks, caps, hospital gowns and exam bed paper, staples found in medical facilities made with polypropylene.

Did you know that the floor in the operating room boasts a transparent polyurethane coating? And that thanks to this coating, it is permanently protected, not to mention capable of withstanding heavy loads, hits, scratches, temperature changes, etc? Most importantly, the coated flooring is highly aseptic and hygienic.

Yet another important use of plastic nowadays comes in the form of medication containers. Decades ago, medical containers did not come with tamper-proof lids. Today, thanks to polypropylene tops, almost all pharmaceutical containers boast child-resistant seals, which help keep potentially harmful medication out of the reach of children.

Last but not least, it’s important to remember that technological advances in plastic help to improve the quality of life of persons with special needs, such as when it is used in prosthetics, artificial corneas or hearing aids.

So now you know – the next time you’re in for a doctor’s appointment (hopefully not anytime soon), you can be sure that Repsol will be there right along with you, making sure that your health, and that of your family, is well taken care of.