Patent ID: 7479129

Claim:
An elongated interlabial pad comprising: a liquid-permeable surface side sheet; a back face sheet; and an absorbent member placed between said liquid-permeable surface side sheet and said back face sheet for absorbing and retaining body fluid; wherein: a central folding axis extends along a longitudinal centerline of said interlabial pad, the absorbent member includes a pair of first low flexural rigidity parts, each first low flexural rigidity part including a slit or cut out portion so that the first low flexural rigidity part has a lower flexural rigidity than areas of the absorbent member surrounding the first low flexural rigidity parts, the slit or cut out portion extending toward said central folding axis from a side-edge of the absorbent member, a basis weight per unit area in the first low flexural rigidity parts is less than a basis weight per unit area in the surrounding areas, such that the difference in basis weights per unit area is 20 g/m 2 or more and 1000 g/m 2 or less, the liquid-permeable surface side sheet includes a pair of second low flexural rigidity parts, each second low flexural rigidity part including a stretchable material or a material which has been processed to allow expandability and has a lower flexural rigidity that areas of the surface side sheet surrounding the second low flexural rigidity parts, each of said second low flexural rigidity parts overlapping each of said first low rigidity parts, extending from a side edge of the surface side sheet and having a larger extent in a direction parallel to said central folding axis near the side edge of the surface sheet than between the side edge of the surface side sheet and said central folding axis, and the back face sheet includes a pair of third low flexural rigidity parts, each third low flexural rigidity part including a stretchable material or a material which has been processed to allow expandability and has a lower flexural rigidity that areas of the back face sheet surrounding the third low flexural rigidity parts, each of said third low flexural rigidity parts overlapping each of said first low rigidity parts, extending from a side edge of the back face sheet and having a larger extent in a direction parallel to said central folding axis near the side edge of the back face than between the side edge of the back face sheet and said central folding axis.