Medical tapes serve many different, important functions. They can secure wound dressings, affix medical devices to the body, cushion or compress an injury, and even close wounds.
In this buyer’s guide, we’ll discuss different types of medical tapes, their uses, their drawbacks, well-regarded brands, and how to choose the right tape to meet your needs.
Who Needs Medical Tape? Clinical and Personal Use Cases
Medical tapes are used at home, in the clinic, and in hospital settings. Different types of tapes are used in different ways. However, in general terms, medical tapes are most often used to:
- Secure wound dressings
- Attach I.Vs, ostomy bags, and other medical devices
- Stabilize injuries
- Compress wounds or sprains
- Stabilize injuries
- Cushion
- Close cuts or suture needle wounds
As their uses are diverse, people ranging from athletes treating injuries to patients changing a wound dressing need medical tape.
Different Medical Tapes: Materials, Adhesives and Benefits
Medical tape products are categorized by the tape’s backing material, which is connected to the tape’s primary use. The six most common medical tape categories are surgical tapes, cloth tapes, silicone tapes, foam tapes, zinc oxide-based adhesive tapes, and elastic athletic tapes.
Understanding the ins and outs of each category lets you make an informed choice when buying tape.
Surgical Tape
Surgical tape is a category of pressure-sensitive, adhesive tape typically used to hold bandages to wounds. These tapes are also called skin adhesive tapes (SATs).
SATs are generally used as a secondary dressing, though skin-sensitive surgical tales are sometimes used to close small wounds—particularly cuts or wounds left by sutures, staples, or minimally invasive medical procedures.
Surgical tape conventionally uses a paper backing. But, it’s an umbrella category, and it includes tapes made from a range of materials.
Most surgical tapes have paper, cloth, foam, or a porous synthetic backing. Adhesives similarly vary. Popular surgical tapes use acrylic, copolymer, and silicone adhesives. Copolymer and silicone adhesives are recommended for their gentleness on skin.
High-porosity paper Surgical Tape
High-porosity paper tape, like Micropore™ tape, is a subtype of surgical tape designed specifically for use on fragile, at-risk skin. It combines a skin-safe silicone adhesive with a breathable, highly-porous paper backing. It’s designed to secure light tubing or small-to-medium dressings.
Cloth Tape
Cloth tape, also called fabric tape, is a medical tape made of fibers. Cloth tapes can be woven or non-woven sheets. Medical cloth tapes are typically made from breathable, soft, durable fabrics with a degree of elasticity.
Common cloth medical tape fabrics include polyester, rayon, nylon, cotton, spandex, and silk. Certain medical tapes use cloths treated with antimicrobial and water-repellent coatings, and many are hypoallergenic. Fabric tapes are typically used to secure tubing and dressings.
If you need particularly soft, affordable, or hypoallergenic medical tape, cloth tape is a smart choice.
Elastic Athletic Tape
Elastic athletic tape is a subcategory of cloth tape. It’s used by athletes and physical therapists to treat muscle and joint injuries. Most of these athletic tapes are made of high-stretch fabric like spandex, and they use either an acrylic- or zinc oxide-based adhesive.
Elastic athletic tape is particularly effective at reducing inflammation, improving blood flow, and managing pain.
If you’re treating athletic injuries, or engaging in physical therapy, this might be the right choice of medical tape. Note, though, that these tapes are not gentle on skin, nor hypoallergenic. They’re not appropriate for fragile skin or for securing dressings on complex wounds.
Synthetic Polymer Tapes (EVA and Silicone)
Medical tapes made of synthetic polymers, like ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and silicones, have unique clinical uses.
For example, silicone tapes can treat hypertrophic and keloid scars, and they can speed wound healing by enabling an appropriately moist healing environment. In the same vein, EVA medical tapes are waterproof, antibacterial, and offer strong adhesion and insulation alike.
If you’re securing heavier medical devices, or you’re taping in a damp environment, medical tapes in this category are a wise choice.
Foam Tapes
Foam medical tapes combine cushioning, synthetic foam backing with adhesive. Most foam tapes are shock-absorbing, and they’re intentionally designed to offer greater cushioning and protection to a dressed wound or joint. They’re often used to add cushion to a medical device or dressing worn long-term, to improve patient comfort.
Foam medical tapes are also, typically, highly flexible. They can stretch in multiple directions to cover joints and secure dressings on challenging physiological locations. Foam tapes are sometimes used as a secondary dressing as well as an adhesive.
Zinc Oxide-Based Adhesive Tape
Unlike other medical tape categories, zinc oxide tapes are actually categorized by their adhesives, not their backings.
Zinc oxide is mildly astringent and naturally antiseptic. Zinc itself also speeds wound healing, particularly when an individual is zinc-deficient. So, when it’s used to create an adhesive, the resulting tape shrinks pores, absorbs oils, and blocks out contaminants—forming a fast, strong bond on skin.
Zinc oxide-based tapes aren’t elastic, and they vary in their degree of breathability and water resistance. The tapes’ rigidity makes them a good choice for stabilizing joints, and they’re useful as a primary dressing for soft tissue and fingertip injuries. Zinc oxide-based tapes also effectively prevent injuries and swelling.
Spotlight: Medical Tape Products
When purchasing medical tape, certain brands’ products stand out. Tapes with reputations for quality in their respective categories include:
- 3M Solventum Microfoam™ Surgical Tape is a waterproof foam tape.
- It’s elastic enough to secure dressings on joints while it cushions with its patented, shock-absorbing material.
- 3M Solventum Multipore Dry Surgical Tape is a micropore surgical tape.
- It’s designed to reliably secure catheters or medical devices on high-moisture areas.
- Curasilk Hypoallergenic Silk Tape is a cloth tape utilizing silk’s natural properties.
- It’s strong, breathable, and invisible on radiology scans—making it ideal for medically delicate taping.
- Simpurity DermaPro Waterproof Silicone Tape is a waterproof silicone tape.
- It’s designed to secure wound dressings without causing harm or pain to sensitive skin upon removal.
- AC-Tape Elastic Adhesive Tape is a med-strength elastic, athletic tape.
- It maintains its strength under tension, making it useful for sports taping and compression.
Buying Medical Tapes—What You Need To Know
When shopping for medical tapes from reputable brands, it’s important to understand what qualities make a given tape product more or less useful for your purposes. Therefore, before delving into product reviews and ratings, it’s wise to understand the following features and traits:
Hypoallergenic & Latex-Free
Hypoallergenic products are typically free of common allergens, fragrances, dyes, and preservatives. However, there is no official standard products must meet to qualify as hypoallergenic. Fortunately, common allergens like latex are noted on product labels, and many medical tapes are verifiably latex-free.
Uncommon Allergens and Irritants
If you’re concerned about the presence of an uncommon allergen in a medical tape product, find the product’s regulatory data sheet.
Most medical products’ regulatory data sheets are available on the product manufacturer’s website. Each data sheet includes a detailed list of the presence or absence of compounds and materials in a product—including those that are occasionally allergenic.
Adhesive Strength and Gentleness
Medical tape adhesives vary widely in their relative degrees of strength and gentleness.
Strong Adhesives
Stronger adhesive is necessary to secure dressings in moist or damp areas, to resist debonding or friction, and to secure heavier medical devices. The strongest adhesives used on medical tapes are usually synthetic rubbers, acrylics, and high-strength acrylates.
However, as a rule, the stronger an adhesive is, the more likely it is to cause trauma to skin when removed.
Gentle Adhesives
Gentle adhesives are non-irritating, and can often be repositioned if needed. Gentle adhesives are used to secure on fragile or sensitive skin, or to secure devices that may need adjustment (like nasal cannulas).
The gentlest medical tapes use silicone or hydrogel adhesives.
Combination Adhesives
Certain synthetic tapes are both strong and gentle when used as directed. For example, micropore silicone tapes are stronger than typical silicone adhesives, as the backing is designed to increase resistance and strength.
Breathability, Flexibility, and Shock-Absorption
Breathable medical tape maintains an optimal healing environment by enabling taped skin to naturally expel excess moisture, preventing maceration irritation due to buildup.
Flexible tape can readily stretch to cover joints and dressings in complex locations on the body. Shock-absorbing medical tape materials, like foam, gives dressed wounds extra cushion, protecting them from damage.
Best Medical Adhesive Tapes: Reviews and Recommendations
3M Solventum Medipore H Soft Cloth Surgical Tape
One of the best medical tapes in both the “cloth” and “surgical” categories is Solventum Medipore H Soft Cloth Surgical Tape. It reliably stabilizes and secures ostomy pouches, dressings, and similar medical materials—with maximum gentleness.
Its skin-safe adhesive is comfortable, neither irritating skin while in use, nor risking injury to fragile skin during removal. As a breathable and flexible cloth tape, it adapts to patient movement and swelling to improve healing.
