Stick-to-Skin Adhesives: A Practical Guide from Concept to Converting

From glucose monitors to cardiac sensors, wearable medical devices are getting smaller, smarter, and stickier. Literally. But stick-to-skin adhesion is rarely as simple as it sounds.

Too often, adhesion is treated as an afterthought. And that, says Maggi Tebrake, PhD, a medical technologies specialist at Solventum™ (formerly part of 3M Health Care), can lead to costly delays, redesigns, and even device failure.

“It’s not just about getting something to stick,” she says. “There’s a lot that can go wrong if you don’t plan early and test thoroughly.”

With Dr. Tebrake’s help, we’ll explore how to select the right adhesive, avoid common mistakes along the way, and scale skin-adhered devices with confidence.

Why wearable devices are booming

Skin-adhered medical devices are becoming essential tools in today’s evolving healthcare landscape. As care delivery moves beyond hospitals and clinics, patients are increasingly managing treatment at home, on the go, or under remote supervision.

That shift is driving demand for medical patches that are wearable, durable, and comfortable on the skin. Three trends in particular are fueling growth:

• People want smaller, more discreet devices that can monitor health continuously.
• Medical providers need tools that support remote care for older adults and those with chronic conditions.
• Patients and caregivers expect devices that are easy to apply, wear, and remove.
  But as this demand grows, so do the risks of getting stick-to-skin adhesion wrong.

Avoid these 4 adhesive pitfalls in wearable design

1. Not addressing adhesion early enough

The best-performing wearable devices start with an adhesive plan from day one. Yet Dr. Tebrake says many device teams delay that conversation until late in development.

“Sometimes teams come in with a prototype and say, ‘Make this stick,’” she says. “But where you place it, how it moves, what the skin is like..factors like those need to be part of your overall design.”

The forehead, for example, doesn’t move much. It can, however, be oily, sweaty, and subtly affected by facial expressions. In contrast, joints like elbows or knees introduce direct friction and bending, which can cause adhesives to lift or fail.

Accounting for these adhesive dynamics early on can reduce rework and accelerate development.

“Many of the adhesive issues we see could have been solved months earlier with a single conversation,” says Dr. Tebrake. “It doesn’t have to be complicated, just don’t go it alone.”

2. Over-engineering the adhesive

When it comes to skin adhesion, stronger doesn’t always mean better. In fact, Dr. Tebrake warns that excessive adhesive strength risks patient safety and comfort.

“We may hear, ‘We only need seven days, but let’s go with the strongest option.’ But that puts skin at more risk. Sometimes what looks like an allergic reaction may actually be damage from an adhesive that’s too aggressive,” she says.

To help teams avoid this mistake, she recommends narrowing adhesive options by wear duration:

• Short wear (a few hours to 3 days). Silicone gel adhesives offer gentle hold and clean removal.
• Medium wear (up to 10 days). Standard acrylate adhesives balance bonding strength and comfort.
• Extended wear (up to 30 days). Long-wear adhesives provide strong initial tack that softens over time to reduce trauma upon removal.

And to further balance hold with gentleness, Dr. Tebrake suggests an approach that extends the skin patch beyond the medical device. “This allows the adhesive to move with the skin and redirect peel stress into shear stress,” she explains.

She also says an additional overlay can be applied to secure the edge. This reduces the likelihood of edge lift while also making the device more comfortable to wear.

3. Skipping long-term compatibility testing

Even when materials pass early compatibility tests, problems can emerge weeks or months later. One common culprit: polymer migration.

“You may laminate different layers of polymers together, and a few weeks later the plasticizer from one layer has moved into the adhesive and turned it into goo,” says Dr. Tebrake.

To prevent failures like that, she recommends testing the entire material stack under real-world conditions, including heat, humidity, and long-term storage.

Validating materials under these stressors helps uncover issues that lab tests might miss. Ultimately, it helps ensure long-term material compatibility.

4. Ignoring manufacturability during design

A patch that performs well in the lab can still run into trouble on the production floor, especially if the materials don’t convert cleanly.

Dr. Tebrake notes that converting often isn’t top of mind for device teams, since it typically falls to specialized partners. But how a material behaves during die-cutting, lamination, and other steps can have a major impact on production efficiency.

She recommends working with converters early in the design process and prioritizing machines that allow multiple steps to run in-line. That modular flexibility can reduce complexity, improve consistency, and help avoid production bottlenecks.

Supporting your wearable device: From materials to machines

Delta ModTech partners with trusted suppliers like Solventum™ to help manufacturers bring wearable medical technologies to market. From early trials to scaled production, the goal is a solution that’s safe, effective, and truly patient-ready.

Our modular converting systems are ideal for skin-contact applications. The systems combine precision, flexibility, and reliability to streamline development and manufacturing.

LEARN HOW WE CAN HELP IMPROVE YOUR MANUFACTURING PROCESS