Flexible Iontophoresis Patch for Raised Skin Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing iontophoresis patches are inflexible and difficult to apply to raised areas of the skin, such as those found in hemodialysis patients, due to their rigid structure, which impairs their ability to maintain intimate contact and effectively deliver local anesthetics like lidocaine.
Innovation Solution
The design of an iontophoresis patch with a flexible donor portion and a separate, less flexible reference portion, where the energizing unit is placed on the reference portion, allowing the donor portion to conform closely to the skin's surface and maintain intimate contact, even on irregularly shaped areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the energizing unit and electrode body are placed on the entire surface of the patch, then the patch has sufficient structural support, but the patch becomes inflexible and cannot conform to raised skin areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patch is divided into a donor portion and a reference portion. The energizing unit and electrode body are placed only on the reference portion, while the donor portion remains flexible and free of rigid components. This segmentation allows the donor portion to conform to raised skin areas while the reference portion provides structural support.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the patch have different properties: the donor portion is designed to be flexible and conformable, while the reference portion contains the rigid energizing unit and electrode body. This local differentiation allows each portion to fulfill its specific function optimally.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the patch is made flexible to conform to skin, then it can be applied to raised areas, but the structural support and electrical connection stability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical connection components (energizing unit and electrode body) are segregated to the reference portion, which does not need to conform to the skin. The donor portion can be highly flexible for conformability without compromising electrical connection stability in the reference portion.
3Quantity of substance
If lidocaine patch is applied to deliver drug, then pain relief is achieved, but the onset time is long (2 hours) and skin irritation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The passive diffusion mechanism of traditional lidocaine patches is replaced with active iontophoretic delivery using electrical current. This substitution enables rapid drug delivery within minutes rather than hours, while the flexible donor portion ensures effective skin contact for efficient drug permeation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enables stable and intimate contact with the skin, enhancing the delivery of local anesthetics and improving the patch's flexibility and ease of application, particularly on hemodialysis patients with raised blood vessels.
Implementation Method 1
iontophoresis refers to a process wherein positive and negative electrodes are placed at two spaced points on a skin and an electric current is passed from one of the electrodes across the stratum corneum to the other electrode thereby to move a charged drug based on the principle of electrophoresis for facilitating transdermal drug absorption
Implementation Method 2
an electric current is passed from one of the electrodes across the stratum corneum to the other electrode thereby to move a charged drug based on the principle of electrophoresis
Data Source
AI summary
An iontophoresis patch is equipped with a donor gel and a reference gel which are disposed to contact an external conductor, for example, the skin of a patient and thereby output current from a current-carrying device to the external conductor. The iontophoresis patch includes: a donor portion having the donor gel containing a medical agent to be penetrated into the external conductor; a reference portion having a reference gel, mounted with the current-carrying device on the surface on the side opposite to the reference gel, and disposed on the external conductor apart from the donor portion; and an electrode film for supplying current from the current-carrying device to the donor gel and the reference gel.