Abstract: A skin-contacting fabric underlay for use beneath a therapeutic or prosthetic device on a human or animal body part is formed as a tube of knitted fabric. The yarns forming the fabric have a core of elastic material surrounded by moisture-transporting filaments of substantially non-elastic material, the yarn having elasticity, the fabric having a warp-knitted structure characterized by an artificial terry surface on an inner skin-contacting surface of the tube. The artificial terry surface is formed by underlaps of the yarn, in which the elasticity of the yarn causes the underlaps to draw up and form artificial terry loops that contact the skin of the body part about which the tube is sleeved. The artificial terry loops serve to space overlaps of the yarn from the skin and to move moisture away from the skin.

Abstract: A prosthetic sleeve for covering a gel sleeve having a reinforced circular opening at the distal end of the sleeve that is sewn or serged and then optionally coated with a gel to prevent unraveling of the yarn. The invention includes a knit sleeve having an upper end, a distal end defining the circular opening for receiving a locking pin secured to one end of the gel sleeve, a perimeter defining the outer boundary of the circular opening formed of serged yarn for reinforcing the circular opening, a gel coating on the perimeter for preventing the overlap of sleeve material between the gel sleeve and prosthetic device, and a coating of gel on the yarns forming a portion of the knit sleeve immediately surrounding the circular opening for providing resilient flexibility to the distal end of the knit sleeve.