Because of the curvature of the arm, several applications of Mastisol onto the Dexcom G5 xmitter dressing have caused the dressing to pull away from the skin. The dressing lost it’s suppleness. Does Skin Tac do the same thing?
What is mastisol? Something to keep your sensor attached? Have you tried something like Opsite Flex-Fix?
1 Like
I use skin-tac, which sounds similar to mastisol. But I only put on once. When my dressing starts to curl, I add iv 3000 tape which is similar to opsite-tape. Lasts two weeks or more.
1 Like
@Timbeak48 - Yes, mastisol is an adhesive. My son, Caleb, uses Skin Tac wipes. He soaks the Dexcom adhesive with the Skin Tac before applying the sensor to his skin. Like @MM1, he only does that once. Unless he’s swimming or excessively sweating he doesn’t need to do anything else, but his sensors rarely last beyond two weeks. Also like @MM1, if the adhesive looks like it needs reinforcement, we use opsite flexifix.
1 Like
I apply sensor first, then use liquid skin tac to just the white adhesive, on top, but it soaks thru to skin.
Interesting that your son applies it before, to the bottom side ?
I know some apply skin tac to skin first.
I think it has been noted in other threads, the key to using Skin Tac is to let it dry before attaching. So prep site, wipe on Skin tac, and allow to air dry. Then attach sensor or inset, etc. Make sure to press the dressing down after too, sealing contact.
when I first started pumping, i would constantly lose insets from sweating too much. I used mastisol at that time to try to help with thisl, but as you note, it can cause a loss of flexibility on the dressing and still fail. The Skin Tac, with the right application, has removed the need for me to use mastisol anymore, even during vigorous exercise or swimming… It is pretty rare now that I’ll have an inset come off. It does NOT result in the dressing getting rigid either…
EDIT: to be fair, my insets do not stay on more than 3-4 days… I do not have issues at the end with them coming off, but sensors that are to stay on for much longer times might not present different challenges.
1 Like
Yes. This started when he developed a reaction to the adhesive. It was less about sticking and more about a barrier. That’s why he soaks the adhesive. We had an intense routine which included putting a tape barrier on his skin before applying the sensor. We eliminated all the steps except the skin tac. We kept that one to help with adhesion.
Taking a cue from a number of posts here, I also started applying Skin-Tac to the underside of the adhesive before application, mostly because I kept worrying about inserting through the Skin-Tac if it was applied directly to the skin. After inserting, I wipe the adhesive once more with Skin-Tac. After about a week I stick down some Opsite Flexifix, and everything stays firmly in place for close to three weeks.
This is also my concern. The one time we applied a liquid barrier to Caleb’s skin, he got a site infection. I’ve not been able to insert through any kind of barrier since then. I know others do without a problem though.