When you have a PICC line you have to always wear a protective sleeve over it so the line isn’t getting dragged or caught in anything, but you don’t have to be stuck with the white gauze-looking sleeve that the hospital will most likely give you. There are some other options out there that can make your sleeve cover something you might even like to show off!
Here are 3 types of sleeves you can use to cover your PICC line:
#1. Hospital Sleeve – free
When you leave the hospital with your PICC line installed chances are you’ll be given this type of sleeve. It’s very stretchy and soft, and could also be made by taking a clean sock, or fishing stockings, and cutting the foot off. I only wear these when my other covers are dirty because I don’t like how the PICC parts can still rub things through the holes in the sleeve.
#2. Mighty Well PICCPerfect – $30
Mighty Well is a company that sells a ton of PICC line products & accessories, including their PICCPerfect sleeve. These are cool, fancy little sleeves that have stuff in the fabric that make them antimicrobial, and there are two holes in it. One hole is to stick the PICC line in, then you wrap the line around your arm and stick the end of the PICC line into the second hole, then fold the bottom of the cover up, and it looks like the image on the right (except I was a dummy and did this inside out, lol, so it’s actually the lighter color on the inside, and the darker color on the outside – DERP).
PRO-TIP: The Mighty Well site tells you to order a size up from your normal arm size, because when you get the PICC placed your arm will swell. I ordered a size up, but after the PICC placement my arm did not swell at all, and the medium is too large for my small arms, so I can’t use it. It looks ok in the picture but it’s very loose and ends up sliding down my arm. And it’s not the cheapest thing, so I basically threw $30 away. I recommend buying the size you are, and if you have swelling just use the sleeve you get from the hospital or your nurse until the swelling goes down.
#3. Tattoo Sleeves – $15
This is my FAVORITE way to cover my PICC line. 🙂 It lets me pretend I’m cooler than I am, and I’ve always wanted a sleeve tattoo! There are a ton of sleeve tattoo styles on Amazon like this one, and they’re all pretty cheap, under $20. I just put the whole sleeve over my PICC line, but you could also cut 2 holes into the sleeve so it’s similar in function to the Mighty Well PICCPerfect.
OVERALL PRO-TIP: Only use clean sleeves. Whichever type of sleeve covers you use, it’s good to have several on hand so you always have a clean sleeve to use while you’re washing the dirty ones. I put on a fresh sleeve every time I take a shower.
The Lyme Life 