A bandage is a material used to support medical devices, such as dressings or splints, or to support or restrict the movement of a part of the body alone. When used with the dressing, apply the dressing directly to the wound and fix the dressing in place with a bandage. Use other bandages instead of dressings, such as elastic bandages to reduce swelling or provide support for ankle sprains. Tight bandages can be used to slow the flow of blood to the limbs, such as when there is a lot of bleeding in the legs or arms.

There are many types of bandages, from ordinary cloth strips to specially shaped bandages designed for specific limbs or body parts. You can usually use clothes, blankets or other materials as needed to temporarily bandage. In American English, the term bandage is often used to refer to a small gauze dressing attached to a sticky bandage.

Sticky bandages, also known as sticking plaster, medical plaster, or British plaster for short, are small medical dressings used when the severity of the injury is not enough to require a full-size bandage. They are also known as generic brand band aids (in the US as "band aids" or "band aids") or elastomers (in the UK).

Bandages protect wounds and knots from chafing, bacteria, damage and dirt. Therefore, the recovery process of the body is reduced. Some dressings have antiseptic properties. Another function is to fix the two cut ends of the skin together to speed up the healing process.

The adhesive bandage is a small piece of soft material, one side of which is sticky, while the smaller non sticky absorbent pad is sticky. Place the pad on the wound and flatten the overlapping edges of the adhesive material so that it adheres to the surrounding skin. Bandages are usually packed in sealed sterile bags with a backing covering the sticky surface. When bandages are used, the lining is removed. They come in all sizes and shapes.

Food preparation workers use special bandages. They are waterproof, have a strong adhesion, so they are not easy to fall off, and are usually blue, so they are more visible in food. Some of these include metal strips detected by machines that can be used in food manufacturing to ensure that the food is free of foreign material.

Transdermal patches are sticky bandages that distribute drugs through the skin rather than protecting the wound.

Butterfly closure, also known as butterfly needle, is usually a thin adhesive strip that can be used to close small wounds. They are used across the tear by pulling the skin on both sides of the wound together. They are not real sutures, but they can often be used or replaced by real small wound sutures. Butterfly needles can be advantageous because they do not require medical personnel to place or remove them, so they are commonly used in first aid kits.