Patches over pills? How health stickers became the latest supplement trend

Usually, if you’re covered in stickers, you’ve been hanging out with a lively four-year-old. Purple on one wrist, pink on the other, stars on your face and neck. But this colourful appearance is gradually extending beyond the realm of pre-school teachers as so-called “health patches”, promising to do everything from boost energy levels, treat period pain, cure hangovers, increase focus, decrease stress and delay balding, are becoming increasingly popular.

I have a hormone imbalance, meaning for roughly 10 days of each month, I feel noticeably more exhausted than usual. While I ordinarily try to combat this with diet and a fairly extensive roster of supplement capsules, for the past month I’ve been trying the small “period relief” and “energy” stickers from Kind (£12 a pack from the chemist), which claim to “offer hormonal balance and menstrual support” and “enhance daily vitality”.

The health patch market was estimated to be worth $9.95bn (£7.45bn) in 2024 and is predicted to explode further in the next five years, according to the Financial Times. Kind is just one of many brands attempting to get a slice of the sticker pie, with other similar products also available from The What Supp Co, Ross J Barr and What’s That Patch. Many companies are also offering a sticker claiming to curb appetite and cravings – being referred to online as a natural Ozempic.

According to the packet, the patches work by delivering various vitamins and herbal compounds to the bloodstream through your skin, triggering various health benefits. Although the Kind brand’s website is littered with four- and five-star reviews of their products, I don’t notice any real difference other than a sticky residue left on the inside of my wrist each day. I definitely don’t feel worse, but I’m not sure I feel better.

“I’m not entirely convinced by the claims made by these patches,” GP Dr Nisa Aslam tells me. “In the EU and in the UK, these are not considered to be medical products, so they’re not subject to the same rigorous testing as medicines, which means they don’t necessarily have to have the clinical research or peer-reviewed trials to back them, which makes me slightly sceptical about their claims.”

Doctors looking sideways at holistic remedies is, certainly, nothing new. But Dr Aslam’s doubts go beyond the lack of trials. “The skin is a very effective barrier,” she says with conviction. “If you look at certain molecules in these patches, they’re quite big in size. So, the question we have to ask is: how likely is it that these molecules will effectively pass through the skin and enter the bloodstream?

“Certain smaller molecules might pass through and give a small benefit. Of course, we know there’ll be an aspect of placebo effect too, so people may feel energised or more relaxed. That’s fine, because the risks are quite low.” Low risk, low reward. Sort of like some herbal teas.

Potential side effects, like skin irritation, are extremely minimal. It’s when mixing substances that things could go wrong. “Vitamins and minerals can interact with each other, so they can impact how they are absorbed or used in the body,” Aslam warns. “So there is the potential, if you’re applying multiple patches, that molecules are entering your bloodstream and then interacting with each other – some compounds can actually cancel out the beneficial effects of each other as well. So, you could be risking adverse effects but also no benefit at all.”

Although the market for patch-based treatment is building, it’s unlikely and unrecommended that the invention will ever supersede pills. “We know that there’s research behind the pill versions now,” says Aslam. “They are regulated. So, they’re more likely to get the ingredients to enter your blood than transdermal delivery. So, vitamins delivered orally, whether a spray or a pill, are just more likely to be efficacious.”

Additionally, of course, there’s an element of the performative quick fix to these stickers, simply by way of the fact that you wear them on your body like a badge of honour. It reminds me of when a kid would break their leg at school and have everyone sign their cast. These are a wellness status symbol, a beaming self-care badge that not everybody can afford.

At the end of my month patched up, I went to the countryside and slept for 14 hours straight. So, it’s fair to say I was still fatigued. Whether it feels like these stickers work for you or not, it’s clear that the need to use them in the first place could be simply plastering over a bigger problem. “You need to address the underlying root cause of the problem,” says Aslam. “Not just hope to manage the symptoms.”