Dr. Raymond Wurapa may have less time to relax since he became co-owner and chief medical officer of Tru-Colour Bandages, but he doesn’t mind.
The hectic schedule is worth it for Wurapa. He’s found it rewarding to start and grow a meaningful company. Tru-Colour offers not only better, but more diverse bandages – in other words, ones that match non-Caucasian skin tones.
“The overall mission drives me,” Wurapa says, “and drives us, as the principals, to keep pushing along because it’s a simple concept. It’s a concept that all of humanity can identify with and, because we’re not exclusive to one group or the other, we’re basically saying, ‘Let’s celebrate everybody where they are, and we should all be better off for that.’”
Wurapa’s day job as an orthopedic hand surgeon with Orthopedic One first piqued his interest in finding a solution for a common problem he encountered: Fingertips are difficult to bandage. Hearing about this dilemma, his son proposed they come up with a design to solve the problem.
Wurapa debuted the prototype at an invention convention to positive feedback. After that, he was compelled to take it further, to keep tweaking the bandage, initially called the starfish. They got a patent for the design, at which point production, marketing and manufacturing would need to come in to go forward with the product.
With the design patented, production, marketing and manufacturing needs led to the expansion of the project, which now includes co-owners Toby Meisenheimer, Mason Duling and Ryan Tolbert.
The team recognized the only bandage on the market was a traditional beige shade. Meisenheimer’s adopted son first prompted his search for a bandage to match a non-white skin color, which is when he realized there were no such options out there.
“We saw the concept of having the utility of the fingertip bandages in addition to the regular ones and offering all the bandages in the multiple shades to address the same problem,” Wurapa says.
The combination of multiple bandage shades and patented and patent pending bandage designs, including a knuckle bandage Wurapa created, makes the startup company a unique blend of inclusivity and utility.
The brand offers skin tone bandages in white-fair, olive-moderate brown, brown-dark brown and dark brown shades. Its products include bandages in standard sizes, spot sizes, larger patch shapes and the patent-pending fingertip and knuckle bandages.
Tru-Colour bandages are sold at Target, on Amazon and on the company’s website, www.trucolour.com. The company has also branched out to institutional buyers such as Henry Schein.
Tips for Hand Health
One of the best ways to avoid pain and discomfort is to take preventative measures along the way. Wurapa shares some tips to keep your hands, wrists and arms healthy.
Avoiding overuse injuries
Many of the injuries Wurapa sees in his practice are caused by overuse, which can lead to tendonitis and other issues. The prevention is simple: Pace yourself and take regular breaks when doing repetitive motions your hands may not to be used to performing, such as during a weekend project.
“Usually, you’re going to have some residual irritation, inflammation in the tendons and muscles that you engage to do that,” Wurapa says. “Breaking up the tasks into workable segments and sort of giving your fingers, your wrists, your hand a break can help prevent some of that developing.”
Addressing cuts early
Winter weather is tough on the skin.
“The skin is one of the body’s greatest defenses, so a lot of people would experience cracks especially at the fingertips,” Wurapa says. “Sometimes the cracks in the cold weather can start to get deeper.”
Address cuts early and protect skin with moisturizers and bandages. That allows them to heal and prevents inflammation and infection.
Following up with a specialist
Lastly, Wurapa recommends following up with a specialist in a timely manner when problems arise. Waiting too long can decrease the options available to address an issue without long-term consequences.
"We can settle things down,” he says. “But there is a point that if you put off all the medical follow up for too long, you can turn a minor problem into a chronic persisting issue that will affect you for many months.”
Claire Miller is the assistant editor. Feedback is welcome at cmiller@cityscenemediagroup.com.
