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Published on: February 17, 2026
Fast versus slow bandaid removal: a randomised trial
Jeremy S Furyk1, Carl J O'Kane, Peter J Aitken
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Townsville Hospital, Townsville, QLD, Australia. jeremy_furyk@health.qld.gov.au
Objective:
To determine whether slow or fast bandaid removal is less painful.
Design, Setting And Participants:
A prospective, randomised, crossover trial was carried out at James Cook University, Townsville. Participants were healthy volunteers from Years 2 and 3 of the James Cook University medical school program.
Interventions:
Medium-sized bandaids were applied bilaterally in three standard body locations and removed using slow and fast techniques.
Main Outcome Measures:
Pain scores were assessed using an 11-point verbal numeric pain scale.
Results:
65 participants were included in the study. The overall mean pain score for fast bandaid removal was 0.92 and for slow bandaid removal was 1.58. This represents a highly significant difference of 0.66 (P < 0.001).
Conclusion:
In young healthy volunteers, fast bandaid removal caused less pain than slow bandaid removal.
