A Foley catheter is used to drain urine in situations where you can’t urinate on your own. Catheters are helpful if you have urinary retention, during surgeries and hospitalizations, or if you are bedbound. Risks of having a Foley catheter inserted include infection, trauma, and discomfort. Andrii Pohranychnyi/iStock via Getty Images
Your Foley catheter is a thin, flexible tube placed through your urethra (the small tube that carries urine from your bladder to outside your body) and into your bladder. Your Foley catheter drains your urine (pee). It’s held inside your bladder by a balloon filled with water. A urinary catheter is a hollow, partially flexible tube that collects urine from the bladder and leads to a drainage bag. They come in many sizes and types. Urinary catheters can be made of: A Foley catheter is a thin, sterile tube inserted into the bladder to drain urine. Because it can be left in place in the bladder for a period of time, it is also called an indwelling catheter. It is held in place with a balloon at the end, which is filled with sterile water to prevent the catheter from being removed from the bladder.
Ultrasound image of a Foley catheter. In urology, a Foley catheter is a brand name for one of many brands of urinary catheters (UC). Foleys and their namesakes are indwelling UC, often referred to as an IDCs (sometimes IDUCs) or the alternative type being an in/out catheters (with only a single tube and no valves, designed to go into the
