Novel Medical Tape Minimizes Neonatal Skin Injury

A quick-release medical tape possesses the strong adhesion properties of commercial medical tape, but without skin tissue tearing upon removal.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, AM, USA) and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH; Boston, MA, USA) used an innovative approach that incorporates an anisotropic adhesive interface between the backing and adhesive layers of medical tape, resulting in a product with high shear strength (for strong adhesion) and low peel force (for safe, quick removal). Once the backing is peeled off, any remaining adhesive left on the skin can safely be rolled off with a finger using a "push and roll" technique.


The medical tape achieves strong adhesion when securing medical devices to skin, but can easily peel off safely, utilizing the three-layer design approach. To create the anisotropic middle layer interface, the researchers employed laser etching and a release liner. The anisotropic layer has properties that convey different physical properties to the tape, dependent on direction; an appropriate analogy would be to wood, which is stronger along the grain than across it. The study describing the new tape was published early online on October 29, 2012, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

“Current adhesive tapes that contain backing and adhesive layers are tailored to fracture at the adhesive-skin interface. With adults the adhesive fails leaving small remnants of adhesive on the skin while with fragile neonate skin, the fracture is more likely to occur in the skin causing significant damage,” said study coauthor Jeffrey Karp, PhD, of the BWH division of biomedical engineering. “Our approach transitions the fracture zone away from the skin to the adhesive-backing interface thus completely preventing any harm during removal.”

There are more than 1.5 million injuries each year in the United States alone caused by medical tape removal. Such injuries in populations with fragile skin, such as babies and the elderly, can range from skin irritation to permanent scarring.

Related Links:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Brigham and Women's Hospital