Faster is Better, When Removing a Band-Aid

Fast band-aid removal is less painful to healthy young adults than slow band-aid removal, according to a new study.

Researchers at James Cook University (Townsville, Queensland, Australia) conducted a prospective, randomized, crossover trial of 65 healthy volunteer medical students of the university medical school program. Medium-sized band-aids were applied bilaterally in three standard body locations, and were then removed using both slow and fast techniques. Participants with documented or suspected allergies to adhesive dressings, chronic pain, wounds, or anxiety disorders were excluded from the study. The main outcome measures were pain scores assessed using an 11-point verbal numeric pain scale.

The results showed that the average overall-pain score for fast band-aid removal was 0.92, and for slow band-aid removal was 1.58. The average overall-pain scores for women were found to be significantly lower than for men. This was assumed to be due to higher pain tolerance, despite the fact that the men tended to have more body hair.

A high body hair score was also associated with higher pain scores, and it seemed that preconceptions about pain also had an appreciable effect on the score. Additionally, students who were tested by one of the two operators reported higher pain levels than those tested by the other, indicting that operator skill was also a factor in removing band-aids. The study was published in the December 7, 2009, issue of the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA).

"The pain experience is a complex and incompletely understood process that incorporates many aspects of patients' social and cultural beliefs, as well as previous experiences,” said study coauthor Carl O'Kane, M.D. "Our sample consisted of healthy young adults and our results may not be applicable to other age groups such as children and older people.”

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