Soft Wear Patch

These microneedles are part of a new contraceptive patch – but don’t worry, each is a hundred times smaller than a pin. Harmlessly pressed against the skin for a minute, a chemical reaction between the needles and the skin’s interstitial fluid causes them to fizz – detaching from the patch but remaining embedded in the skin. Here a red dye highlights their tips which are usually clear, disappearing into the skin an hour after wearing the patch. Over the next month, as the biodegradable needles dissolve away, they release a steady amount of levonorgestrel, a contraceptive hormone, into the blood. With many current birth control methods being unreliable, invasive or simply too expensive in certain parts of the world, this new option may help to give more women the power of choice.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Wei Li and colleagues
• School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY-NC 4.0)
• Published in Science Advances, November 2019