Right now, there’s no strong evidence that lactose intolerance patches consistently prevent symptoms.
The idea behind these patches is simple: Instead of swallowing a lactase pill before eating dairy, you stick on a patch that’s supposed to deliver the lactase enzyme through your skin. The problem is that it’s not clear whether the enzyme can actually make it to your digestive tract, where it’s needed to break down lactose.
“For [patches] to actually be effective, the enzymes would need to get through the skin barrier and into the bloodstream, and then somehow get from the bloodstream into the gut,” Adam Pont, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist, told Verywell. “This would be an incredible feat, and likely impossible with even state-of-the-art transdermal drug delivery systems.” Read the full article.
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