Adhesive TOTAL FAIL!

There have been lots of posts about adhesive not being great for the new g4, our first week we just tested it out to see what would happen, it did peel, on the second day, top and bottom, then stayed stable, lasted till about day 11 ( accurate as all get-out) when she knocked it off in a dance rehearsal, so it worked ok ( not near as well as pod adhesive, but then we dont wear those for 11 days either!)

Then yesterday we put on a new one, and within 5 minutes, it is peeling up on top and bottom, ie IT NEVer STUCK at all in the first place,

as I touched the adhesive the cloth feels actually dry, as if there is NO actual adhesive at all!!

waited on support about 15 minutes and gave up. ordering skin tac asap...

this is definitely something screwy... something with manufacturing and how they are getting adhesive on the things in the first place... where does dexcom do manufacturing? anybody know?

Call and they will replace it. Were you wearing lotion or powder?

I need help with this issue too. I can't keep the G4 in and on for a week. The Dex 7 stayed in for a couple of weeks for me. I'm waiting for a order of KTTape to see if this will work for me. Let me know if you find something that works to keep the unit in place. Thanks, Katie

Did you use adhesive remover to cleanup the previous site? If that's still on your hands the G4 adhesive fails. I use Tac Adhesive to keep it on.

All of us are different. I've no issues whatsoever with the adhesive on the sensors, both for the 7+ as well as the G4. OTOH, I am incredibly allergic to hospital grade adhesive tape -- the kind they use when attaching large pieces of gauze after an operation (or whatever). My skin blisters and literally bubbles up -- it is just awful! Hideous.

Good luck finding something that works. I always clean my next sensor area with alcohol before putting it in place. I figure the alcohol will clean up the area and also dry it out a little bit before the application of the sensor. Works for me.

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Dexcom manufacturing is all US. Not outsourced to China. Labeled on the boxes.

I find I have to put a sheet of Tegaderm over the sensor and its adhesive to hold it on for 2 weeks.

I always coat the adhesive with skin tac and then let it dry for a couple of minutes before applying it to my body. Lasts up to 3 weeks - never tried it past 3 weeks.

I too have had no issues with the sensor sticking. Maybe in my original set of 12 sensors I got the good adhesive ? In any case the only time the adhesive has even started to peel up is when I had the sensor on my thigh and I think the constant rubbing of the clothing against the sensor had an effect. But it did not even start to do this until the second week and then I just put some more Opsite Flexifix on it to secure it for a few more days.

OPSITE FIXFLEX Just GOOGLE it.

Opsite Flexifix - cheapest I found is http://www.healthykin.com/p-1231-smith-and-nephew-opsite-flexifix-transparent-tape.aspx really good stuff

Your experience was the same as mine with a bunch of sensors. Might have been a bad batch, though. My current sensor was from a new box and the adhesive has been working fine. So there is some inconsistency with the adhesive.

Dexcom sensors are manufactured in San Diego in a facility compliant with all FDA current Good Manufacturing Practices (google cGMP). I don’t work for Dexcom, but have been a an engineer in pharma and biotech for many years. It is EXTREMELY unlikely the are any major defects coming off of the production line, but make sure to send in the complaint with the lot number so the situation can be mitigated if there is some sort of a problem.

I’m only on sensor 4, but have yet to experience anything different than 7+. Good luck everyone!

In the Dexcom 7 manual there is an illustration showing strips of tape (Probably paper tape) holding the edges of the sensor patch on all four sides. I started taping my senors like that in 2009, and have continued ever since. No problem with everything staying in place for two weeks. (Doesn't the G4 manual show the same picture?) I am somewhat allergic to the paper tape so I apply Skin Prep and let it dry before using the tape. That works fine for me.

I hate that too. But thankfully, it doesn't happen often. But when it does, it appears that it happens back to back. I've had some infusion sets that appear they had no glue/adhesive formula applied (and of course, animas says it is so unlikely... Yeah right!!!).

Skin-Tacs work REALLY well, better than I expected actually. However, sometimes they are too strong. Sometimes I need to use UNI-Solve to remove the sensor, or infusion set. But like I said, Skin-Tac is very effective. Especially during the summer time. Also, if your insurance pays for it, get a large IV3000 film. they are great for adding additional security for the sensors. Even better to put some Skin-Tac around the sensor/infusion set to make the IV3000 stick like a compination lock!! LOL

If your insurance does not pay for IV3000 (cause they are so damn expensive) you can get 3M/Tegaderm for about $35 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X2AHFS/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

-Yogi

did you call Dexcom? I did, and they told me that no one else has called about the adhesive not sticking.....

I put a tape window around mine on three sides. Leave the bottom edge open.
this works great. I perspire a lot. This works well, even doing a two hour, high heat, outside exercise routine.

Yup I sent a support request through email, may take them a while to discover a pattern in the support requests…

We did cover with tegaderm, on piece over top and one over bottom, and it is holding strong

Good to know Kevin!! We are not the only ones! I have some skin tac on the way!!

Thanks everyone for te thoughts! This is so helpful!!