Avery Dennison Introduces Medical Wearable Adhesives Learning Center

Avery Dennison Medical has introduced the Medical Wearable Adhesives Learning Center, an educational resource for medical device engineers, designers and researchers to learn more about how pressure-sensitive adhesives address the challenges in wearable device design and the benefits of selecting the right adhesive to maximize device performance.

The Medical Wearable Adhesives Learning Center offers adhesive insights tailored for the full range of wearable device applications across the diagnostic and therapeutic segments. The Learning Center will help industry veterans and newcomers understand the challenges associated with skin factors, the target user, intended wear time, and device design.

“The wearable device segment is growing rapidly, and so is the role for pressure-sensitive tapes,” said Miguel Solivan, marketing manager medical, Avery Dennison Medical. “There are many medical device companies in this space, from the well-established to startups, all of which will benefit from the content in the Learning Center. With so many variables to consider with skin adhesives, the more information the better.

“For example, wear time is a very important factor within a wearable device application. A device may be worn for minutes or hours or up to 30 days in some cases. The user could range from an infant to a more senior person. Our skin properties also vary on different parts of the body. Then you have to consider the hardware — typically a construction of different types of material,” Solivan said.

Designing a wearable device is not easy or straightforward. Every application is different and while we’ve leveraged our learning across multiple applications, each device has unique challenges to effectively meet customer specifications and improve patient compliance and care.

"Identifying the appropriate adhesive for a specific application in the design phase, prior to product development, reduces time to market and ensures a successful product launch,” Solivan added. “I think that will be an important takeaway for visitors to the Learning Center.”

Avery Dennison Medical has a robust portfolio of skin contact adhesive products and tie layer tapes backed by more than 40 years of experience serving the medical marketplace.