I propose creating “TRANSDERMAL SKIN PATCHES FOR EVERYTHING” that you ingest or inject for health.
Transdermal patches have many uses: anti-nicotine addiction, pain therapy, hormone replacement, contraception, nitroglycerine treatment, motion sickness treatment, anti-hypertension, anti-depressants, ADHD treatment, Altzheimer’s treatment, chemotherapy symptom treatment, and B12 supplementation. An insulin patch is in development.
Patches are usually superior to ingestion because the medicine or nutrition goes DIRECTLY into the bloodstream without the interference of the digestive process.
Patches are superior to injection because they are LESS INVASIVE and less “all-at-once,” MORE “TIMED-RELEASE.”
Theoretically you can make a patch for ANYTHING that you can ingest or inject.
USES FOR TRANSDERMAL PATCHES
THAT HAVE NOT BEEN INVENTED YET
1. ORAL REHYDRATION THERAPY– The cheapest and most effective way to treat dehydration (caused by a variety of diseases such as dysentery, cholera, diarrhea, rotavirus, etc.) is ingestion of a simple solution of salt, sugar, and water, a therapy known as “Oral Rehydration Therapy.”
A patch could be impregnated with salt, sugar, and water. It could be used for those whose esophagus is obstructed, or who need direct and immediate hydration, or when intravenous injection of salt, sugar, and water is not available.
2. NUTRITION – Patches would be much preferable to tube-feeding for patients who are comatose or whose esophagus is blocked, or who suffer from dysphagia.
The army was developing a total, all-nutrition-in-1-patch “Transdermal Nutrition Delivery System,” but it seems to have been discontinued. http://archives.tproc.org/www.sbccom.army.mil/products/food/tdnds.pdf
I propose a separate patch for each nutrient (instead of the Army’s all-in-1 approach): 1 patch with protein, 1 with fats, 1 with carbohydrates, 1 with each important vitamin and mineral.
There already are patches for vitamins and minerals.
But not for protein, carbohydrates, or fats.
I suggest adding “protease,” a protein-digesting enzyme, to a protein patch.
I suggest adding “lipase,” a fat-digesting enzyme, to a fat patch (counter-intuitively, fat is necessary to nutrition).
I suggest adding “amylase,” a carbohydrate-digesting enzyme, to a carbohydrate patch.
Alternately, since protein needs to be broken down by enzymes to be absorbed into the bloodstream anyway, I suggest a patch impregnated with protein already broken down by protease into amino acid—an “AMINO ACID PATCH.”
3. OXYGEN – Oxygen-impregnated patches could help the oxygen-deprived.
TCOT, or “Transdermal Continuous Oxygen Therapy,” continuously bathes wounds in pure oxygen. The “Epiflo” device infuses oxygen into a sterile dressing. But it is a bulky machine. And it doesn’t deliver the oxygen into the bloodstream. http://www.ogenix.com/product-overview/
“Oxygen Infusion Therapy” is a cosmetic facial treatment. It works similarly to TCOT. It also does not deliver the oxygen into the bloodstream. http://www.intraceuticals.com/rejuvenateinfusion.html
I propose IMPREGNATING A TRANSDERMAL PATCH WITH A LIQUID THAT IS ALREADY OXYGEN-INFUSED (possibly blood or blood plasma), and that can be absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream.
4. BLOOD PLASMA – Since transdermal patches infuse material directly through the skin into the bloodstream, it seems as if patches impregnated with red blood, or with blood plasma, could be used for transfusions without needles.
6. CHEMOTHERAPY – There are patches for treating the symptoms of chemotherapy. But patches that administer the various constituents of chemotherapy could also be created.
7. COUMADIN, ANTI-VIRALS, AZT, etc., could be better administered by patch instead of by pill or injection.
CUSTOMERS
Pharmaceutical companies that are already making transdermal patches. Patients who have problems with ingestion or injection. Patients who have problems keeping track of their dosages, who forget to take their pills, etc. Doctors who want easier ways to help their patients access any of these substances. Anyone with a need for direct, non-invasive, timed-release infusion of substances into the bloodstream.
Ted Silar 