Prevail Air Permeable Underpads KCI-072 23x35 Heavy
Prevail® Air Permeable Underpad KCI-072 – 23" x 35"
Engineered for the Therapy Bed: Air-Permeable Backsheet, Dry-Lock® Heavy-Absorbency Core, and Integra Mat™ Construction That Holds Together Under an Active User
The Prevail® Air Permeable Underpad exists to resolve a genuine clinical conflict: patients on low air loss and pressure-relieving therapy beds need incontinence protection, but a standard plastic-backed pad laid on those surfaces blocks the very airflow the mattress was prescribed to deliver—trapping heat and humidity against the exact skin the therapy is protecting. The KCI-072's specialized air-permeable backsheet lets the mattress's therapeutic air circulate freely through the pad to the patient's skin, preserving the full benefit of pressure-relief therapy while still providing heavy-duty fluid containment above it. It's the pad that lets the bed do its job.
The absorbent system honors both halves of that promise. The Dry-Lock® polymer core delivers heavy-rated absorbency despite the breathable chassis—locking fluid into the core to keep the contact surface dry and the bed protected—while Integra Mat™ construction bonds the core into a unified structure that prevents the topsheet from separating and the absorbent material from clumping, even under an active, repositioning user. Skin wellness details finish the build: the cloth-like topsheet is soft to the touch, and the pad's completely flat seal means no sharp plastic edges ever contact the skin—eliminating the perimeter edge-abrasion risk that matters on the fragile, high-acuity skin these beds serve. FSA/HSA eligible, in a bag of 12 or case of 72 sized to clinical change rhythms.
Clinical-Grade Features & Benefits
- Air-Permeable Design: Purpose-built to work with airflow mattresses—therapeutic air passes through the pad to the patient's skin, so pressure-relief therapy delivers its full benefit without sacrificing incontinence protection.
- Dry-Lock® Polymer Core: Heavy-absorbency superabsorbent core locks fluid away despite the breathable chassis, keeping the surface dry, protecting the support surface, and carrying overnight-scale volumes between changes.
- Integra Mat™ Bonded Construction: The core is bonded as a unified mat, preventing topsheet separation and absorbent clumping even under an active user—the pad presents a consistent, smooth surface from placement to change.
- Maximized Skin Wellness: The soft cloth-like topsheet pairs with a completely flat perimeter seal—no sharp plastic edges contact the skin anywhere on the pad, removing an edge-abrasion risk that standard pads carry for fragile skin.
- Heavy-Duty Fluid Containment: Clinical-grade capacity appropriate for the immobile, extended-lying, high-acuity patients therapy beds serve.
- FSA/HSA Eligible: Purchasable using Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account funds.
Equipment Specialist Insight: Use the KCI-072 as the only layer between the patient and the therapy surface—that's the entire design premise. Placing a plastic-backed pad above or below it, or layering it over a vinyl mattress protector, seals the airflow path and silently converts a prescribed therapy bed into an ordinary one; audit the full stack, not just the top layer. Center the pad under the hips and sacrum with the 35" length across the bed, smoothed flat—the Integra Mat™ bonding will keep it uniform from there. Pair with breathable body-worn garments only for incontinent patients, keeping the vapor path open end to end. Because the backsheet passes air, confirm your specific bed's manufacturer guidance on approved linens if the unit is under rental or clinical protocol—most low air loss systems specify air-permeable pads exactly like this one. Change once the Dry-Lock® core gels firm; a saturated core still contains, but airflow performance declines as the pad loads.
Detailed Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: If air can pass through the backsheet, how does the pad keep fluid from reaching the mattress?
A: The separation happens in the core, not the backsheet. The Dry-Lock® polymer converts incoming fluid to a bonded gel almost immediately—liquid is chemically captured before it can migrate downward, so what reaches the air-permeable layer is vapor and air, which pass through, rather than liquid, which is already locked. This is the engineering trade the pad is built around: containment by gel capture rather than by a solid plastic wall, which is what allows heavy-rated protection and free airflow to coexist. As with any gel-capture system, protection is strongest before saturation—change once the core feels uniformly firm.
Q: Will moisture press back against the patient's skin (rewet) during long lying periods?
A: The Dry-Lock® gel lock resists pressure squeeze-out—lying body weight cannot press bonded gel back through the cloth-like topsheet—while the Integra Mat™ construction keeps the core evenly distributed under the pelvis instead of letting it clump away from the pressure zone. The air-permeable design then adds what plastic-backed pads can't: continuous airflow from the mattress evaporates residual surface humidity rather than letting it condense against the skin. For immobile patients between scheduled turns, that combination—gel lock below, airflow throughout—is precisely the microclimate profile therapy beds are prescribed to maintain.
Q: Should patients on a low air loss bed also wear a tab-style brief or pull-on with this pad?
A: Follow your clinical protocol, but the standard configuration for incontinent patients is a breathable body-worn product—tab-style open brief or pull-on—providing containment at the source, with the KCI-072 beneath managing the surface and preserving the airflow path across the whole torso zone. The critical rule is breathability end to end: a plastic-backed brief or garment inside the stack seals heat and humidity against the skin just as surely as a plastic pad would, undoing the therapy from above. Every layer between the patient and the mattress should pass air—that's the whole system working as prescribed.
Retail Disclaimer: Technical metrics, capacity ratings, dimensions, and material details on this page are compiled directly from manufacturer and vendor data files. Product specifications, packaging counts, and construction may be updated by the manufacturer without notice. We recommend confirming real-time specifications, sizing, support-surface compatibility, and packaging details before completing checkout. This product information is not medical advice; consult a healthcare professional for guidance on incontinence management, pressure-injury prevention, and support-surface protocols appropriate to your situation.
⚠ California Proposition 65 WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals which are known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. For more information, visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.
