There are definite benefits and drawbacks to medications. Some medications are necessary for survival. Others are quite possibly prescribed a bit too freely. Another problem with medication is that many people forget to take it.

When that happens, a number of side effects can occur. But a company based in South Korea may be able to change the way that we take medicine.

A group of South Korean scientists have created a dermal arm patch that releases correct quantities of medication as needed. The patch is heat-sensitive, and also stops releasing medication when a person feels better or no longer needs it.

This isn’t the first dermal patch created for the purpose of dosing out meds, but it is the first one that can predict when a person has had enough of a medication or needs more.

Inside the Patch

Diabetics require medication at different times. The patch mentioned above would be able to deliver this medication when needed, provide extra shots of important drugs when body temperatures rise (or other body measurements appear incorrect), and stop dispensing drugs when a medication is no longer needed. This is all really remarkable given the technology that currently exists. At present, there’s really no way to control the dosage of a medication.

When a doctor prescribes a medication to be taken daily, a patient will take that medication on a regular basis whether or not the same dosage is needed every single day. Likewise, doctors can’t monitor patient wellness to determine whether or not a medication is making someone sick or causing unwanted side effects. The small patch that the South Korean team has developed can do all of these things.

Shelf Arrival

It will be another five years before the patch is ready to go to market. There are still some glitches that the team needs to work out. The team wants to make sure that the patch can be activated through wireless means first, since most people will want to have this feature ready to go.

Once that’s done (and other things are fixed), you can expect to see the patch appear across the world. The patch will likely be something that a doctor has to prescribe, but it’s one of the most innovative medical inventions to surface lately.

The whole idea of using a skin patch to distribute medicine will eliminate the problem of missed doses, possible side effects that are unwanted, and quantities of medicine that are taken unnecessarily. All of it adds up to a better way to take your meds. Costs and other details haven’t been revealed yet. This is just the tip of the medical iceberg, too. In the very near future, the whole medical scene as we know it is bound to change thanks to some pretty amazing advances in science.

What do you think of a skin patch? Would you use one? Or, does this whole concept sound too strange? Some people are on the fence. Others think that this technology could be a gigantic stepping-stone.