Right now, there鈥檚 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鈥檚 supposed to deliver the lactase enzyme through your skin. The problem is that it鈥檚 not clear whether the enzyme can actually make it to your digestive tract, where it鈥檚 needed to break down lactose.
鈥淔or [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,鈥 Adam Pont, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist, told Verywell. 鈥淭his would be an incredible feat, and likely impossible with even state-of-the-art transdermal drug delivery systems.鈥
Would you like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Pont?
