Name of the fabric towels are made from - flannel or terry cloth?

Solution 1:

I wonder if she meant flannel/towel. As in either/or. Which would make more sense.

In the UK, a flannel or face flannel is a small square of terry-cloth or towelling used for washing the face or body.

Towelling is the material that towels are made from.

Terry-cloth fabric is used for flannels, or nappies (traditional square cloth diapers). Terry cloth is probably less-known now, and more often called ‘towelling’. My mother used to refer to ‘terry nappies’, I remember.

‘Flannel’, additionally is a soft usually wool or worsted dense fabric used for trousers suits or coats.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/towelling

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/flannel

Solution 2:

Towels are indeed made of terry (or terrycloth), and flannel is everywhere a woven cloth made of wool. But adding to the confusion, the word “flannel” is indeed sometimes used in the U.K. to refer to what the US calls a “washcloth;” see sense 4 here:

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/flannel

So I am pretty positive your doctor just meant a plain old ordinary washcloth.