Insulin Patch - A Painless Method Of Insulin Administration

Insulin patches are presently experimental method of insulin transfer that are present at the initial stages of research. The primary advantage of an insulin patch can be attributed to its role in the painless administration of insulin hormone, through the skin, alike to muscle pain relief patch or nicotine patch (UNC HEALTH CARE, 2015). According to IFL Science (2018) the patch represents a thin square, almost the size of a penny and remains covered with several hundred minute needles, each about the magnitude of an eyelash. Owing to the fact that the patch is designed with biocompatible materials and is simple to use, it has been considered as an alternative to the conventional diabetes management techniques (Bialo. 2018).

Insulin Patch Insulin Injections

The patch delivers continuous insulin throughout the day (Luijf et al., 2013)

Different types of insulin might result un low blood glucose

Administration is more precise and accurate (Jahn, Capurro & Levy, 2013)

Frequent injections result in resistance

Adjustment of insulin with the flexible lifestyle

Requires proper knowledge for administration

Large insulin molecule might face difficulty in getting absorbed by the skin (Borot et al., 2014)

Might result in alterations in the skin at the site of injection (lipodystrophy) (Blanco et al., 2013)

Prevalence and risk factors of lipohypertrophy in insulin-injecting patients with diabetes.

The research has identified three key domains that are related to the use of insulin patches namely,

(1) estimated budget of insulin patches,

(2) efficacy over insulin injections,

(3) promotion of insulin patches.

Societal Perspectives

Before the 20^th century, the prevalence of diabetes amongst the children was around 3-4 children per 1000 children. Although there are limited literary sources to prove that fact. In the recent years the numbers have gone through a sudden surge in the number of diabetic children. Previously before the 19^th century, there was no proper diagnosis for diabetes and only adults over the age of 65 years had the possibility of having diabetes. This abrupt increase in the rate of diabetes within the children began from Scandinavia. Insulin intake is one of the most effective methods to manage diabetes, but for some children it is not possible to inject insulin into their blood stream using a syringe. For this purpose, a new kind of insulin patch has been developed by the researchers which shall be capable of inject the insulin subcutaneously without using any syringe or without any pain. This device aims to maintain the insulin levels in the patients and keep the diabetes under control.

Children with the type 2 diabetes, insulin has become an important part of their lifestyle to keep their diabetes under control. There are various means to introduce insulin into the bloodstream of the patient such as an insulin injection, insulin pen or a conventional insulin pump. For all these types of insulin injectors, the patient has to carry the entire apparatus along with them and if required they cannot use them in busy public places as it can be very difficult (Anhalt & Bohannon, 2010). Although nowadays, small syringes are available for the convenience of travelling (Veiseh & Langer, 2015). Insulin patch is a thin patch covered in very tiny needles which stores insulin. It is a painless process and seems to maintain the blood sugar for a longer time than any other method.

• The insulin patch is a square patch, extremely thin and its surface is covered with one hundred micro needles, which facilitate the injection of the insulin into the bloodstream without any pain. Diabetic children often refuse to take injections of insulin as they are painful, but an insulin patch is painless due to its micro needles. Patients with type 2 diabetes have to take insulin shots everyday so it can be very painful for them. They have to keep looking for a spot less painful to take a shot so it also makes the process very imprecise (Ramchandani & Heptulla, 2012).
• Research shows that an insulin patch works much faster than the conventional forms of taking insulin. During self-application of the insulin injection, there is always a possibility that there might be some disruptions with the dosage, but incase of insulin patches, the dosages are fixed (Zisser et al., 2008). Wrong dosage can have many adverse effects on a diabetic patient such as blindness, comma, and limb amputation and even be fatal. The dosage of the patch can be personalized according to the age, weight and sensitivity to insulin, which makes it even more accurate. The insulin patch even has a closed loop mechanism, which connects the patient with the automatic blood-tracking device and administers insulin whenever required without any interference of the patient.
• The insulin patch acts like artificial vesicles that are responsible for generating and storing insulin and secreting them in the bloodstream whenever there is an increase in blood sugar (Ye et al., 2016).
• The insulin patches are made up of biodegradable products such as hyaluronic acid and 2-nitroimidazole. The mixture of these two products creates a new molecule. One end of the molecule is hydrophobic and one end is hydrophilic. These molecules are assembled as the artificial vesicles of the insulin patch.

• They insulin patches can very easy to use but they can be very costly. The insulin patch supply for 30 days costs around $250 (Woo, 2015). This might not be covered by many health insurance plans, as this is a much recent technique.
• The patient has to change the patch everyday as it loses its effectiveness.
• The site of patch application can be exposed to skin infections.
• The patient might have diabetic ketoacidosis from the malfunction of the patch (Yu & Gu, 2017).
• Children might not be able to self-apply the patch on the right spot, which would render the patch useless.

Insulin patches brings about the latest technology in the market to help the diabetic children to monitor and control their blood sugar in a painless manner. The insulin patch is highly recommendable as it is easy to use and does not require any adult supervision except when the patch has the facility of a closed loop (Huma Dove at al., 2017). The device might be a little expensive but its advantages outweigh the price. The older methods require knowledge of the device and the spot where the shot is to be given should be known. There is always a chance of wrong dosage during the application which can lead to serious consequences and sometimes it can be fatal for the patient.

Conclusion

The study discusses the various societal prospective of the usage of the insulin patch. Traditionally, there are two main types of insulin injectors such as insulin injections or insulin pumps. Insulin patch provides a much easy to use, painless method to inject timely, accurate dosages of insulin into the blood stream. The study provides a comparative study regarding the conventional insulin pumps and the insulin patches. In the recommendation part, insulin patches have been highly recommended as the most effective method to inject insulin into the blood stream.

References

Anhalt, H., & Bohannon, N. J. (2010). Insulin patch pumps: their development and future in closed-loop systems. Diabetes technology & therapeutics, 12(S1), S-51.

Huma Dove, A. E., Levine, B. J., Marathe, P. H., Gao, H. X., & Close, K. L. (2017). JDRF Mission Summit 2017. Journal of diabetes, 9(6), 544-546. na Press, New York, NY.

Khan Ghilzai, N. M. (2003). New developments in insulin delivery. Drug development and industrial pharmacy, 29(3), 253-265.

Oppel, E., Högg, C., Summer, B., Ruëff, F., Reichl, F. X., & Kamann, S. (2018). Isobornyl acrylate contained in the insulin patch pump OmniPod as the cause of severe allergic contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis.

Ramchandani, N., & Heptulla, R. A. (2012). New technologies for diabetes: a review of the present and the future. International journal of pediatric endocrinology, 2012(1), 28.

Veiseh, O., & Langer, R. (2015). Diabetes: A smart insulin patch. Nature, 524(7563), 39.

Woo, V. C. (2015). New insulins and new aspects in insulin delivery. Canadian journal of diabetes, 39(4), 335-343.

Ye, Y., Yu, J., Wang, C., Nguyen, N. Y., Walker, G. M., Buse, J. B., & Gu, Z. (2016). Microneedles integrated with pancreatic cells and synthetic glucose?signal amplifiers for smart insulin delivery. Advanced Materials, 28(16), 3115-3121.

Yu, J., Zhang, Y., & Gu, Z. (2017). Glucose-Responsive Insulin Delivery by Microneedle-Array Patches Loaded with Hypoxia-Sensitive Vesicles. In Biomedical Nanotechnology (pp. 251-259).

Zisser, H., Robinson, L., Bevier, W., Dassau, E., Ellingsen, C., Doyle III, F. J., & Jovanovic, L. (2008). Bolus calculator: a review of four “smart” insulin pumps. Diabetes technology & therapeutics, 10(6), 441-444.