Urination Device : Benefits, Side Effects & Uses
Urination Device, as the phrase suggests, it’s a device to pull urine away. The categories of urination devices on the market include three types: female urinal funnels, basic urination devices and automatic urination devices. Among them, automatic urination devices include hand-held type and wearable type. And this article aims to be a comparatively professional statement on automatic urination devices.
What is the Urination Device?
With the boosting level of economic development and technology research, people get more availability to pursue higher quality of living standards. The patients suffering from urinary incontinence, getting through a surgery and other people who are unable to urinate normally or independently would like to pick suitable diapers before the invention and spread of the urination device. However, there is a more advanced and more convenient alternative of diapers as urination devices catch on in public gradually. In the urination device itself, it is a kind of device which automatically helps humans remove, collect and temporarily save urine without limitations of time and place and without smudging the body or clothes.
More often than not, a suit of urination device consists of one big urine collection container, a tube or two, a main control host, a urine cup (something like a urinal) and a fixed pants (not definitely).
Other names you might hear to describe urination device include:
Urine Collection System
Urine Collection Device
Benefits of the Urination Device
Safe: As the material is close to skin, safety is the most significant point to pay attention to. Superior urination devices are always safe to use. The parts closest to the private area are made of cloth and material without toxic chemicals. There is no need for users to worry about getting allergic as long as they are not allergy prone.
Cost-effective: Except for separate, the average cost of urination devices on the market is within $500. From the product functions, research cost, raw materials and durability, using urination devices are more cost-effective than using diapers. The cost of using diapers for one year is equal to the cost of a common reusable urination device, and the validity life of a common reusable urination device is far more than one year.
Leak-proof: Even though not all brands are able to do a perfect leak, most urination devices can. The edge of every urine cup is designed with a specific angle to tightly fit the skin for preventing leakage. Therefore, the leak-proof effect of most urination devices is good, so that users can use them with various postures including supine, semi-supine, sitting / wheelchair, legs bent, side lying and lying prone. And the function of automatically wicking urine once the urine cup holding urine cuts off the potential of leaking urine.
Comfortable: Like our underwear, the devices need contact with our body directly for hours even long to a whole day. Therefore, comfort is important as well. And the material of fixed pants together with the urine cup and the weight of a whole unit are decisive factors. The material of fixed pants usually is cotton or ice-silk and the urine cup is safe soft silicone which both are light enough. Likewise, keeping the urine cup empty also decreases the weight of the urine cup thereby increasing the comfort.
Trouble-free: Wearing the urination device, users don’t need to get up at night to use the restroom, and caregivers don’t need to change diapers for their patients or loved one at night or wash pants and sheets soaked by leaking urine the next day, which indeed saves a lot of strength and time for users and their caregivers.
Pain-free: New-generation urination devices are non-invasive. Unlike old-fashioned invasive urination collection devices, current urination devices do not need to be placed in the urethra which avoid the pain and risk of damaging skin deriving from the internal catheter.
Odor-free: Urination devices wick urine into the airtight urine collection container and keep the urine cup empty, which effectively decreases the odor, hygienic and clean, keeping the indoor air fresh.
Trustworthy: As urination devices belong to durable goods and its cost is not small, producers usually support the warranty over one year. In other words, users can apply for free warranty or return due to product quality problems within one year. That is vital for customers when picking one. Therefore, please remember: longer warranty is more trustworthy to pick.
Reusable: Urination devices with urine cups usually are reusable because urine cups are made of material which can be washed and disinfected repeatedly, so that one device can be used for a long time until the main unit brokes.
Eco-friendly: A urination device can be used many times while a diaper needs to be discarded once it is soaked with urine. The ingredients of diapers include polypropylene, plastic polymers and cotton. Some of them release gas harmful to the environment when being burned. The waste quantity of urination devices is far less than diapers, so they are comparatively eco-friendly.
Perhaps some people will puzzle: Are diapers not good anymore? Why should I put on something that sounds like a machine? Surely, people usually take a little bit of time to accept something new, especially among the elderly. As one of the users’ reviews what we get, his old family resisted using the urination device at the beginning. However, even though the truth is like that, there are many truths in life, not just one. From the functions and benefits of urination devices, they can effectively help users solve problems about urination.
Compared to traditional diapers and these sorts of things, urination devices are capable of degrading the risk of urine tract infection to some extent. Users’ skins don’t need to contact residual urine directly for several hours. Urination devices with the function of wicking away urine immediately once the urine cup filling with urine always ensure users’ skins keep dry and breathable, letting their crotch keep no burden. The people who are frequent and urgent to urinate can pick one with a large-capacity urine collection container as per their own urination situation, so as to no need to get up for the restroom frequently all night.
Side Effects of the Urination Device
- Less privacy: Unlike diapers worn inside of clothes, there is definitely something like a tube and urine collection container that need to appear outside. Therefore, the urination device is not a kind of invisible and private commodity when being used.
- Initial discomfort: Anyway, the pants of the urination device are not more comfortable than common pants. And other components bring users certain bondage as well. Most people, especially old people will have discomfort and even produce resistance initially to put on it.
- Potential leakage: Usually, the urination device is not easy to leak if it is put on right. But there is always an accident. The leakage will happen if users move or stretch unconsciously and randomly in deep sleep.
- Users limitation: Urination devices mostly are a kind of commodity for solving the puzzlement of the incontinent in urination. Surely, some devices are designed applicable to normal people to use as well. Actually, some specific urination devices are designed for patients with specific symptoms. For example, The PureWick™ System is just for the incontinent whose single urine output is low and small.
- Residual urine: After turning on the device, it begins to work and sucks the urine into the urine collection container when the urine cup is filled with urine. But there is a little bit of residual urine drops adsorbed on the inner wall of the urine cup which is tricky to wick away completely.
- Airtight demerit: Users’ whole private area needs to be covered by the urine cup for no leakage problem, this means users’ private area is in an almost airtight space. And that triggers a demerit which is not breathable enough in long-time wearing. Some users need to wear the device for a whole day, which must be skin-unfriendly for them.
Uses of the Urination Device
When & Who can it be used?
Actually, urination devices can be used by everybody if they want. When you are on a car journey and away from the city so that you have no restroom available to use, you can solve the urination emergency with a hand-held urination device. When you or your loved one are recovering from a surgery and have got to lie in bed, you may pick one wearable urination device or prepare one hand-held type near your bed. When you are going camping in cold weather, you may take on one hand-held type to avoid urinating outdoors and in the cold wind. When you or your loved one are suffering from urinary incontinence, you may choose one hand-held type or wearable type as per current urination situation, etc.
Where can it be used?
Most urination devices with batteries can be charged, so they can be used outdoors on the basis of full charging. Some brands only can be used in being positioned flatly while some can be used in a car or moving situation. Users should consult the manufacturer or customer service as per their own using requirements before picking.
How does the urination device supposedly work?
Every brand of urination device has its own specific work principle, but commonly, the main work principle of urination devices relies on negative pressure suction. Once the urine in the urine collection cup is collected to the outlet and contacts with the probe, the metal wire inside the urine collection tube senses the urine and the main host of the urination device begins to wick under negative pressure. However, it should be noted that not all work principles of urination devices are like the above mentioned. It will be better to consult the manufacturers.
Additionally, different brands fit for different operation and usage tips. To avoid affecting the working efficiency of devices and experience of users, users should operate and use the device right as per official user manual or the video from official site.