Uncoated catheters are the vanilla ice cream of the catheter world. Dependable (because they’re so simple), these catheters usually don’t feature the bells and whistles of your no-touch/closed catheter systems. That being said, there is subtle variation in these from manufacturer to manufacturer, and the type and stiffness of the material ends up having a large impact on the final user experience with these catheters.
It’s generally much easier to secure insurance coverage for these catheters relative to the no-touch/closed catheter systems, the special compact catheters, and even the hydrophilic catheters that are out on the market.
With uncoated catheters, you’ll usually need to apply lubricant to the catheter yourself before inserting it. Standard practice involves tearing a lubricant sachet at both ends and sliding it over the length of the catheter, which is ultimately an effective but messy method. This also introduces the possibility of contact contamination occurring during lubrication, if the catheter touches the outside of the lubricant packaging or the user’s hands. Special care should be taken with this kind of catheter to try to maintain its sterility before insertion. Depending on how flexible the catheter is, and how much of a limp noodle it is, this can be a real pain. Uncoated catheters rarely come with niceties like accessible, easy-open packaging or insertion sleeves.
Uncoated catheters that have been reviewed on this site include:
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