Review of Medical Adhesive Technology in the Context of Medical Adhesive-Related Skin Injury

In clinical practice, a large variety of medical devices adhere to skin to perform their function. The repeated application and removal of these devices can lead to skin damage or medical adhesive-related skin injury. Awareness of this problem has increased in the past decade, and this adverse event can be prevented with appropriate selection of adhesive products and the appropriate techniques for application and removal. A wide variety of adhesives and backing systems have been developed to create medical devices with an array of attributes, so they can accomplish many different indications in the clinical setting and meet various needs, including doing the clinical job without damaging the skin and causing further patient complications. The selection of an adhesive product should take into consideration a patient's skin assessment and history of medical adhesive-related skin injury, and using only the minimal adhesive strength needed to perform the function while protecting the skin from damage.