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Skin allergies and diseases, including atopic dermatitis (AD), affect millions worldwide. Current treatments for AD are often expensive, leading to a need for cost‐effective solutions. Here, using fiber‐based patches to maintain and increase skin hydration is explored, which helps treat eczema and AD. Nanofiber membranes are manufactured via electrospinning of eight different polymers: nylon 6 (PA6), polyimide (PI), poly(3‐hydroxybuty‐rate‐co‐3‐hydroxyvalerate (PHBV), poly(l‐lactide) (PLLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), and polystyrene (PS), and two molecular weights poly(vinyl butyral‐co‐vinyl alcohol‐co‐vinyl acetate) (PVB). Further, their morphology is examined through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fibers, and pores diameter, wettability, and membrane thickness. Additionally, water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) are measured, and notably, skin hydration tests are conducted before and after using evening primrose oil‐infused patches. The comparison and findings highlight the flexibility of electrospun patches, demonstrating their potential in maintaining skin hydration for 6 h and enhancing skin moisture, which are necessary in AD treatment. These insights, which focus on selecting the most effective performance patches, help improve skin moisture, leading to tailored treatments for AD, which can significantly impact the efforts to reduce healthcare costs and simplify skincare steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All over the world people suffer from many skin problems including eczema, atopic dermatitis (AD), and various allergy-related issues, which generally cause skin dryness, redness, and itching. To protect the skin barrier, increasing its moisture and hydration is highly recommended, which helps to prevent further bacterial infection and external irritation. Electrospun membranes are ideal material for skin patches allowing topical drug delivery and reducing transepidermal water loss on the skin due to their high surface area to volume ratio. Therefore, in our research we focus on electrospun polymer membranes with a porosity above 90% to deliver gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) from natural oil to increase skin hydration. Various geometries of membranes (aligned, random, nano- and microfibers) and polymers (PVB, PCL, PHBV, PI, PA6, PS) are used to design patches with controlled oil release over a few hours. The experimental studies in vitro and in vivo have been confirmed with the theoretical modeling of oil transport through the porous patches. The results indicate the beneficial effects of the electrospun patches and their high biocompatibility. We show that oil spreading and transport in patches depend on the sizes of the fibers and pores, their surface properties, and porosity. The controlled transport over 6 h of oil containing GLA is directly correlated with the increased skin hydration level. Additionally, electrospun fibers and membranes can be easily modified by blend electrospinning of polymers with oils, or coating fibers with urea or chlorine used in treating AD. The electrospun patches can be simply applied overnight for protecting the skin and improving the comfort of people suffering from various acne and eczema problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis (AD) are widespread and affect people all over the world. Current treatments for dry and itchy skin are mostly focused on pharmaceutical solutions, while supportive therapies such as ointments bring immediate relief. Electrospun membranes are commonly used as a drug delivery system, as they have a high surface to volume area, resulting in high loading capacity. Within this study we present the manufacturing strategies of skin patches using polymer membranes with active substances for treating various skin problems. Here, we manufactured the skin patches using electrospun poly(vinyl butyral-co-vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) (PVB) fibers blended and electrosprayed with urea. The highest cumulative release of urea was obtained from the PVB patches manufactured via blend electrospinning with 5% of the urea incorporated in the fiber. The maximum concentration of released urea was acquired after 30 min, which was followed up by 6 h of constant release level. The simultaneous electrospinning and electrospraying limited the urea deposition and resulted in the lowest urea incorporation followed by the low release level. The urea-based patches, manufactured via blend electrospinning, exhibited a great potential as overnight treatment for various skin problems and their development can bring new trends to the textile-based therapies for AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition, caused by wide genetic, environmental, or immunologic factors. AD is very common in children but can occur at any age. The lack of long-term treatments forces the development of new strategies for skin regeneration. Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a well-developed, tissue-compatible biomaterial showing also good mechanical properties. In our study, we designed the electrospun PCL patches with controlled architecture and topography for long-term release in time. Hemp oil shows anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, increasing also the skin moisture without clogging the pores. It can be used as an alternative cure for patients that do not respond to traditional treatments. In the study, we tested the mechanical properties of PCL fibers, and the hemp oil spreading together with the release in time measured on skin model and human skin. The PCL membranes are suitable material as patches or bandages, characterized by good mechanical properties and high permeability. Importantly, PCL patches showed release of hemp oil up to 55% within 6 h, increasing also the skin moisture up to 25%. Our results confirmed that electrospun PCL patches are great material as oil carriers indicating a high potential to be used as skin patches for AD skin treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Successful modification of PI patches with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). • Chlorination of the membranes changes their hydrophobic character to hydrophilic. • Decreased zeta potential of the patches is beneficial for antimicrobial activity. • Chlorinated PI patches inhibit bacteria growth, both gram-positive and gram-negative. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common andcomplex disorder caused by many inherently intractable factors. One of the symptoms is an increased amount of Staphylococcus aureus on the skin surface. These bacteria trigger, accelerate, and exacerbate AD. In order to reduce inflammation, we designed antimicrobial patches, which inhibit bacterial growth. Using electrospinning, we produced polyimide (PI) nanofibers collected in the form of porous membranes. These PI membranes were modified with sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). The active chlorine content was confirmed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with secondary electrons (SE) mode, backscattered electrons (BSE) mode, and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover, we evaluated the wettability and zeta potential of the patches. Finally, we performed an antimicrobial efficacy assay against the Gram-positive model organism S. aureus and the Gram-negative model, Escherichia coli. We observed that the chlorinated PI patches demonstrate effective bacterial killing, making them excellent material for antimicrobial skin patches applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Gamma linoleic acid from oil directly increases skin hydration. • Development and characterization of patches with electrospun polyimide (PI). • Electrospun PI patches with blackcurrant seed oil increase skin hydration. • The numerical simulation of reciprocal patch and skin behavior was developed. • The computer model agrees with experimental results. Atopic dermatitis is a common disease that affects around 20 % of children. One of the supportive therapies is long-term skin hydration which can be obtained by applying specially designed patches. Therefore, in this work, polyimide (PI) electrospun membranes as patches for atopic skin hydration were studied. PI fibers of diameter 500 ± 70 nm were assessed for biocompatibility using murine fibroblasts, NIH 3T3, and evaluated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and MTS assay. The biocompatible PI membranes were mechanically tested and showed very high stretchability, above 350 %. These features, combined with a high membrane porosity of 95.6 %, make them excellent materials for skin patches. By loading the membranes with 10 µl blackcurrant seed oil rich in 11–19 % of gamma linoleic acid (GLA), we obtained skin patches that allow long-term hydration. Patches were assessed in vivo with skin hydration tests over 6 h and compared to numerical simulation of GLA release to the skin. The results obtained indicate the great potential of the electrospun PI patches for atopic skin care applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Electrospinning composite membranes with PS and PA6 fibers. • Oil spreading depends on the fiber dimeter and pore size in membranes. • Water vapor transmission rate is reduced with hydrophilic PA6 nanofibers. • Electropsun PS – PA6 fibers with borage oil are applied as atopic skin patches. Atopic dermatitis (eczema), one of the most common disease and also most difficult to treat, is seeking for novel development not only in medicine but also in bioengineering. Moisturization is the key in eczema treatment as dry skin triggers inflammation that damages the skin barrier. Thus, here we combine electrospun hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) and hydrophilic nylon 6 (PA6) with oils to create patches helping to moisturize atopic skin. The fibrous membranes manufactured using electrospinning: PS, PA6, composite PS – PA6 and sandwich system combining them were characterized by water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) and fluid uptake ability (FUA). To create the most effective moisturizing patches we use borage, black cumin seed and evening primrose oil and tested their spreading. We show a great potential of our designed patches, the oil release tests on a skin and their moisturizing effect were verified. Our results distinctly reveal that both fiber sizes and hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of polymer influence oil spreading, release from membranes and WVTR measurements. Importantly, the direct skin test indicates the evident increase of hydration for both dry and normal skin after using the patches. The electrospun patches based on the hydrophobic and hydrophilic polymers have outstanding properties to be used as oil carriers for atopic dermatitis treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]