Ripping a bandage that is fastened to a sensitive area or wound can be one of the most painful and irritating things even the boldest among us can tolerate. Although most adults simply grin and bear through the pain caused by removing a bandage, the same cannot be said for infants and toddlers. Due to their very sensitive skin removing an adhesive bandage can either open up a soft wound or cause a permanent scar on their body.
“This is one of the biggest problems faced in the neonatal units, where the patients are helpless and repeatedly wrapped in medical tapes designed for adult skin,” says Bryan Laulicht, one of the researchers who have finally made a breakthrough and introduced a unique kind of medical tape that will not cause pain when it is removed. Said tape has been able to achieve this feat by drawing inspiration from an unlikely place; spider webs.
A team of researchers from MIT, Women’s Hospital and Brigham along with Laulicht have made this new type of bandage understanding that it may come in handy in the future, as it is still unknown when this tape will be made available for sale.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences had already recognised this quick release medical tape that comprises of three layers; an anti-adhesive middle layer, adhesive layer and the usual non-sticky back.
Time explains it as, “The inspiration for the idea came from nature, where this property, in which a material is much stronger along one axis than it is along another, is called anisotropy. Just as it’s easier to split a piece of wood along the grain than against it, the new medical tape requires only gentle force to break apart when you peel it, but it still sticks securely when you try to tear at it lengthwise or when you stretch it out flat. When the tape is pulled apart, it leaves behind only some adhesive gunk, which can be rubbed off the skin gently with a finger.”
As far as the idea behind making this tape is concerned, researchers decided to model it like spiderwebs because the incredible feat of nature has both non-adhesive and adhesive areas in them together with mica, a layer of minerals that can be easily unpeeled. The best part about this tape is that in spite of its uniqueness it can be easily made with the materials of the medical tape currently in use.
Source: FastCoExist
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