Cloth or Paper?

For those who enjoy realistic play exams, which do you prefer: a cloth or paper gown? Personally, I much prefer paper. There's something about the cloth gown that feels frumpy, while the paper gown connotes youth. I also love the sound of the crinkling paper as the gown is maneuvered, breaking the otherwise silent room.

When maneuvering the paper gown for auscultation (of a female patient), I would lower it just above her breasts to assess the aortic and pulmonic areas, and Erb’s point. Then, I would reach under the gown from below to listen to the tricuspid and mitral areas. There's something captivating about hearing the gown crinkle as the chest piece is moved, seeing the thick black tube(s) of the stethoscope disappear under the gown, and then having silence fill the room as the doctor listens. While I appreciate the sight of breasts as much as anyone else, there's something more intriguing about not seeing them in this scenario.

I recently ordered a box of 50 paper exam gowns from Amazon (a lifetime supply for me 🤣). The box was much larger and heavier than I expected, and I was a bit horrified when the attractive, young female driver struggled to carry it up my driveway. Thankfully, I chose an external box for packaging, as the manufacturer’s box had “Exam Gowns” printed on the side in large letters!

I much prefer cloth gowns. 🙈 I only ever get given paper gowns at the cardiologist’s office and omg. I always feel like one wrong move and the whole thing is going to rip. I do have a larger than average bust size - so the paper gowns never seem to fit anyway.

Cloth gowns remind me of my childhood, though. Always used to get given them by my pediatrician!

I’ve only had/seen cloth gowns. Once for an MRI they had paper or some plastic blend shorts and tee shirts I had to wear. Shorts were one-size-fits-all. Could have made a medium sized tent out of them!

For maximum coverage and not feeling so exposed? Cloth for sure. But it’s the ever-present threat of exposure that charges the experience with all of its dreadful promise! And the sounds of crinkling paper and the feelings they provoke only amplify the delicious inevitability of exposure. In my fantasies and in a play exam setting, it would be paper all the way.

Cloth for sure, although I'm sure if there was a long enough, detailed enough physical exam that included a lengthy enema series for example, there might be a way to incorporate both. Start with the cloth gown, but once the enemas are underway, go to a paper gown for just the upper half of the body, or something like that. Paper seem so cheap and flimsy, but I guess they're still being used....

Cloth for exams in my practice