Pills or Patches?
There are many of us who tend to cringe at swallowing tablets and capsules. It is either because of the struggle of swallowing pills or that people generally are psychologically afraid to take them down the throat. Some of us have a horrible memory of those bitter soluble tablets too because of course they were less painful than those injection pricks. Earlier an IV an injection or a tablet used to be the only option for taking vitamin supplements. Nowadays, since the advancement in pharmacology for coming up with friendly skin patches to take the pain of injections and pills.
What is a patch?
Patches are adhesives which produce fast acting and continuous delivery through the dermis or skin. Why patches are a better option than pills?
What is a patch?
Patches are adhesives which produce fast acting and continuous delivery through the dermis or skin. Why patches are a better option than pills?
- Medicines don’t go through the Stomach: Pills are mostly taken orally. For even a pain in a knee, the pain killer first goes to the stomach and then into the system so that it is passed on to the desired place for action. Gastro intestinal tract happens to be a sensitive system and intake may cause inflamed bowels and may harm the stomach lining. Patch on the other hand if stuck on the skin, enters the system also.
- Allows continuous release
- Patches avoid first-pass metabolism: The gastrointestinal tract can’t sometimes metabolize and absorb the pills effectively. For some pills are metabolized efficiently in liver and some in stomach. Patches are free from all these metabolic stages and just does their work on the required site.
- Convenient to patient: NO need to carry the pills, remember the timings, and details of the medicines. Patches are just there all the time.
