Sterile Gauze Pads?

[Barney]

Originally Posted by Lamebeaver

How many sterile pads do you expect to go through? You'll be lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) to ever need one. Having two, just in case should be fine, since they don't weigh much.

That's an excellent point! But from time to time I like to use a gauze pad (dressing) to clean the wound site with alcohol or povidone-iodine. Not always do I have cotton balls or swab sticks.

[Lamebeaver]

Are you a first responder per chance (I notice you said kits)?

[Grandpa]

I avoid the need for first aid. It's been years since I used a compress, but I still carry a couple.

[Johnny]

I heard one guy skilled at this story saying that you can't maintain sufficient levels of sterility in the outdoors anyway so you should not worry yourself about this too much.