I am a caregiver and change out Fentanyl patches every 3 days and want to know if the used patch will affect me when I handle it with my hands?

Answer 1

It depends - if you're just removing it by the edges, you're not going to get any real contact with the gel. If the patch is cut and you come into contact with it, that's a different story, but if you wash it off quickly, you'll likely not have any problems with it.

The contact issue only affects non-users if the gel comes into contact with the skin, since the gel itself contains a concentrated amount of Fentanyl within it. Used patches approaching the 72 hour mark (I used to change mine at around 68 when I was on a 3 day dose, 44 when I changed to 2 days) are already pretty depleted of the gel, but it's still good to take precautions when handling used ones.

For the newer non-gel patches, you'd need to have skin contact for at least a few minutes to get any real exposure, as the dosage delivery is generated by body heat. Even so, with or without gel I'd recommend using either your fingernails or a pair of tweezers to remove the patches by the edges, then fold it in half per the patch literature and dispose of it, you're pretty much covering yourself from exposure. The best option if you're removing old patches is to just use nitrile gloves - you can't use them for applying patches, but you can use them to remove and dispose of them. Just grab the edge, pull it off, fold it and dispose, or if just one, hold it in your gloved hand then pull the glove off over it and dispose.