dressing lip 16 is oriented at a preferred angle of about 5 to 90 degrees with respect to the bottom surface of the dressing to allow the catheter 18 to pass therethrough without altering currently used catheter positioning and insertion techniques additionally the width and length of the dressing lip may be varied according to the intended use of the dressing for example in a form of the present embodiment shown in fig3 the length of the dressing lip is preferably longer than the thickness of the dressing lip and more preferably approximately twice as long as the thickness of the dressing 10 and in a more preferred form of this embodiment the thickness of the dressing 10 may be between about 0 5 mm and 15 mm thick and the dressing lip 16 may be between about 1 mm and 10 mm long as described above the respective dimensions for the thickness of the dressing 10 and the dressing lip 16 are illustrative only and may be varied depending on the intended use of the dressing 10 and the size and shape of the catheter 18 for example in one dressing designed for use with a tenckhoff type of peritoneal catheter having an outer diameter of about 4 9 mm the preferred thickness of the dressing is about 2 5 mm and the length of the dressing lip.