I have a 16 year-old in football and has a hard time keeping it on due to excessive sweating. I have seen Lexcam patch advertised on Facebook. Has anyone had luck with these or have any other suggestions. Thanks in Advance!
Has he tried IV Prep wipes? It looks like an alcohol swab but it leaves your skin sticky/tacky. When I was younger and more active I used them for my pump sites to get better adhesion.
Skin-Tac™ Adhesive Barrier Wipes 50 count
Have used these for a number of years. Use them while playing hockey, running and such. A great help for high activity diabetics.
I have found a product better than IV Prep. I used IV Prep for many years and now use "Skin Tac Wipe. They are far superior.
Sherry Jeffery
My daughter is not a football player, but we use both the IV prep wipes underneath the sensor adhesive, then we apply a Tegaderm sticker over that. I cut out a hole in the middle of the Tegaderm for the transmitter, but another family I know just sticks the full Tegaderm sticker over the transmitter and all.
We use skin tac for our active teenage son. I buy the bottle with the sponge applicator which I find is easier to use than the wipes, but it’s the same product. Key is to allow product to dry before applying sensor - skin should be tacky. We also occasionally use biooclusive dressing like tegaderm (we cut a rectangle out of the center for the Dexcom transmitter itself so it only reinforced the white part) when he is swimming or sweating a lot. All products available on Amazon.
Smith & Nephew IV3000 patches are great. They fit nicely over the transmitter, are breathable yet waterproof, and do not affect the transmission of data. Tagaderm, as others pointed out, is also awesome. The IV Prep wipes also help a lot! Hope this helps!
I love using Mastisol (liquid adhesive) to glue my sensors on. I get the single use ones, where you break the little vials and rub on… yes these are little vials inside plastic tubes that you crush then rub on. Sometimes I have to soak in hot water to get sensor to remove or use adhesive remover. But I can get my sensors to stick for 14 days and I am a gym rat, and I also swim.
Try Simpatch Adhesive Patch. They are made to work with several different sensors. I don’t use the messy tape that comes with my Medtonic Guardian any longer. Just put this patch over the entire sensor. Easy to remove and no residue on skin or sensor.
Stays on thru showers and very hot/humid days but I’m not an athlete.
One caution, directions tell you not to touch adhesive part when applying because it won’t stick if you do. Just trim that part away after it’s applied; patch is plenty big.
I’ve also given up on the Medtronic guardian tapes - they are messy and very irritating for me. What I have found that works really well are Grifgrips. I find that they stay on, with some help from skintac, when active in hot, humid weather, in the shower, etc. I don’t swim, so I can’t comment on how well they do for that activity. The IV3000 tapes are also good but do have problems with high humidity and if you are sweating heavily.
The best patches we have found are from Skin Grip. They are a new brand of adhesives that promise 10+ days of usage. My brother used one while in Hawaii and was able to swim, shower, and hike for a full week without any sort of issues at all. They have patches for Omnipod, Dexcom, Medtronic, and Freestyle Libre. They only offer one color at the moment, but the patches are literally bulletproof.
I went through the same thing with basketball when I had a Dexcom on my stomach or a Freestyle Libre on the backs of my arm. There is a company called GriffGrips that makes adhesive coverings that I found worked really well at helping your CGM stay on from sweat or water. You can get them in a bunch of different sizes and colors or designs.
Tegaderm works the best for us. Stays on and secure regardless of activity. Comes off easily when you want it to. No residue or cleanup off the skin or transmitter.
Put Skin Tac on when attaching the CGM. If it is the G6, I go about 5 days or more before the edges start turning up. Once that happens, I trim the excess and then apply a patch over that. Dexcom has some that are okay. There are tons of other brands. Look on Amazon. I am a runner and this seems to work well for me.