I’m Christel from Diabetes Strong and in this video I’ll be going over some different strategies
for dealing with skin reactions to continuous glucose monitor adhesive and this should work
for any CGM so regardless whether or not you wear a Dexcom a Libre or a Medtronic sensor how to deal
with or even how to prevent skin irritation when wearing a CGM is something I get asked about quite
frequently so let's talk more about it I wear a Dexcom G6 I worn electronic uh CGM in the past
and for my skin I only get skin irritation if I pull off the sensor without using a glue remover
so I use this stuff so this solves it for me but there are some people who develop skin
irritation even blisters while wearing their CGM if you're experiencing a full-on allergic reaction
to wearing a CGM or any you know adhesive you should probably reach out to your doctor and have
a discussion but what I’m gonna present to you are three different options for dealing with skin
irritation that I’ve seen work for quite a few people around the diabetes community and that also
have some level of scientific backing if your CGM adhesive is irritating your skin believe me you're
not the only one so when I was doing my research I came across you know this exact topic on the
Dexcom website so Dexcom is one of the largest manufacturers of CGMs and let's just look at what
it says this is from the q a and look at this it says how can I avoid irritated or sensitive skin
caused by the Dexcom sensor adhesive so it's clearly a question that gets asked
a lot and they do list some different options so let's just look at the first ones so you can see
here there are different options such as cleaning your skin trimming hair not using lotion or oil
containing moisturizer and not inserting the sensor immediately after a shower bath
so one option for dealing with skin irritation from CGM adhesive is to use a skin barrier
and that's something I know works for quite a few people so that will be the first solution
that we're going to discuss today so on the Dexcom website you can see they have a list
of seven different brands I’ve only tried the skin tag wipes and it's kind of like these
little towelettes comes in these little individual packets the way to use the barrier is that while
you take it out of the package you apply it to the body let's say I’m applying it to my arm
before you apply the sensor so let me just show you take it out here okay I’m not taking it so
because I use Dexcom which has an oval pattern right let me just show you an it's applicator here
see this is where the tape would go this one is used that means that I have to mimic this pattern
on my body so I would apply it here an oval pattern and let it dry before inserting the sensor
so that sounds I guess that sounds easy enough but I do find it's a little bit complicated because
you're not supposed to apply the barrier where the needle goes in because you don't want the barrier
on the needle or the sensor so I tried to be a little complicated so without you know drawing
the pattern of the sensor on my skin first how do I really know that I only got product underneath
where the tape will go but anyway you might be more crafty than me so it's definitely a solution
and the next solution that Dexcom also mentions on their website is to use an overlay tape
or bandage between your CGM and your skin so that way you create a physical barrier
between your CGM's adhesive and your skin so I guess what it comes down to is finding
a band-aid or overlay tape that you do not react to so I’m thinking one way of testing
out whether or not you have a reaction to the tape could be to cut out a small piece of it
place it somewhere on your body and then just you know watch it for up to 10 to 14 days depending
on how long your sensor actually works so it doesn't really make sense to me to just slap
on and overlay tape or bandage underneath your sensor before you know whether or not
you have a reaction to it for example Dexcom has listed one product that's called Tegaderm as an
option for a berry they can use between your CGM adhesive and your skin so I’ve tried that product
that product does not work for my skin at all so for me if I were to use that between my my CGM
and my skin it would probably make things worse so for me that would definitely not be a good
solution I really like the idea of using a hydrocolloid bandage underneath the CGM or
fabric based overlay tape such as skin grip so I actually saw on Myabetic’s that they have a
hydrocolloid hydrocolloid bandage that's how you pronounce that um specifically for this purpose
so if you want to get that use my code to check out if you type in DIABETESSTRONG
you get 15% discount so a little tip but as I said I really like the Skin Grips it's a fabric
based overlay tape that I use so I use it over the sensor to keep the sensor in place and I’m
figuring since that works for me and it doesn't irritate my skin this would also work really well
as an underlying barrier between the skin and I also have a code for them and surprise it's also
DIABETESSTRONG we're keeping it simple here if you use the code DIABETESSTRONG and check out on
the skin grab website you get 10% discount but let me just show you how it would work with the tape
so let's take one out so what you want to do is you want to clean your skin like you always do
before inserting a sensor and you see here this is the overlay tape this is oval because I use Dexcom
this is a applicator this is used but you see it's oval if you use Medtronic or Libre you
can get overlay tapes that are shaped for those sensors okay but the idea is this is my Dexcom
imagine that I haven't used it and the tape is still here so this would be the adhesive that
would be irritating the skin okay so you'd peel off the paper so that the tape would be exposed
you then take your tape okay and you would so the colored side is the side that's going to
be away from the body we apply that directly to the sensor and it would now be sticking
here like this so you can see the needle and where the sensor is going to come out is not
blocked by the the tape because there's a hole in the tape so this would now be stuck to the tape
and you just take off the tape of the overlay tape put it on the skin apply the sensor as you always
do but this way it would only be the overlay tape that'd be in direct contact with your skin
the glue or the adhesive from the sensor would not
and the third and final solution we'll be talking about today is to use a nasal spray
such as Flonase or Clearispray underneath the sensor so the first time I saw someone do this
online I kind of thought it was a joke but there's actually some evidence to this backing it up so
it's not a scientific study as such it is a real life observational case I’ll link to it up here
but it does indicate that this actually works so the way to do this and remember I haven't tried
this but this is according to the case is that you want to take out your nasal spray so your Flonase
or your Clarispray and you want to do two puffs on the skin so let's say that I want to place it here
let's say this is where I want my sensor I’ll do two puffs with the nasal spray okay so one two
leave it on the skin don't wipe it off leave it to dry and then once it's dry you can take out your
sensor put it on skin boop insert it as you usually do and those were three
some somewhat science-based and all recommended by Dexcom options for reducing skin irritation
when you use a CGM so let me know down in the comments if you've tried any of these methods
if they worked for you or if you'd done something completely different that worked I know I would
love to know and I’m sure the other viewers would as well and that is it for today thank
you so much for watching if you like this video please give it a like below and if you want to
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