The use of adhesives in medical applications was for a long time restricted to the manufacture of self-adhesive bandages (plasters, self-adhesive strips of fabric, etc.). The first pressure sensitive adhesives used for this were based on natural rubber. This was in part later superseded by synthetic rubbers (e.g. polyisoprene, polyisobutylene). In the middle of the 20th century, pressure sensitive adhesives based on polyacrylic acid esters became increasingly important, both for general use and for bandage materials. 
Adhesives are today employed in diverse areas of medicine, replacing traditional methods with “friendlier” processes. In many cases, for example, stitches can be avoided by applying special cyanoacrylate adhesives to quickly close skin wounds. An advantage here is that the whole wound can be covered, so largely suppressing secondary bleeding and the risk of infection. Cyanoacrylic acid butyl ester is normally preferred over the methyl and ethyl esters because it cures more slowly and the polymerisation produces less heat; it also causes less tissue irritation. By and large, this adhesive is only used for relatively small wounds and occasionally in vascular surgery.
Consider the transdermal patch…where the drug delivery mechanism to the blood stream is through the skin. Adhesives enable a more efficient method of drug delivery rather than prescribing a high-ingestion dosage (which is subsequently flushed out of the body by the liver). Transdermal patch technology is highly effective because the adhesive that sticks the patch to your skin – made of products of chemistry like acrylic, acrylic-rubber hybrid, polyisobutylene and styrenic rubber solution – actually controls the rate at which the drug enters the body. This ensures that the drug dosage is continuously and evenly administered throughout the day, without the spikes and falls associated with medicines taken orally.
The applications are many…smoke cessation, hormone replacement, and cardiovascular aid (I.e. nitroglycerin delivery) are commonplace. New transdermal patches hit the market every day with more items like pain cessation becoming a reality. Other innovative products such as foot care and cosmetic patches, and nasal dilator strips have hit the market in recent years all possible because of the unique functional properties of the pressure sensitive adhesives integral to the product.
One of the newest bioadhesives on the market enables drugs to be delivered through the inside of the mouth, nasal passages and other mucus membranes instead of just through skin. It adheres extremely well to the soft, wet mucus membranes of the body because of adhesives made from starch-polyacrylic acid blends, which then completely erode and disappear. Drug makers are able to put their medicine into tablet, film or powder form, and the patient is able to attach the product directly to a mucus membrane, providing a means for controlled delivery of drugs to specific areas of the body or systemically (throughout the body).
In heart surgery, fibrin (made from fibrinogen), a soluble protein recovered from blood, is a key sealing agent having a haemostatic effect. Compared to cyanoacrylates, fibrin is gentler to body tissue but before use it must undergo a special treatment to prevent germs being spread. The use of methacrylate based adhesives has been a great success in orthopaedics for anchoring hip socket implants to the bone (see figure below). There are currently no other types of adhesive used for this application. The adhesive products comprise a.) a powder component (a mixture of polymethyl methacrylate and a polymerisation initiator) and b.) a liquid component (whose main components are methyl methacrylate and a polymerisation accelerator). Although this type of adhesive puts a not inconsiderable stress on bone and tissue due to the strong heat development, hip and knee implants anchored using this adhesive are in 90 percent of cases functional for about 15 years. 
In dentistry, fillings based on UV curing acrylates have largely replaced traditional filling materials such as amalgam. The products have a long open time (the period during which they can be used after mixing) and bond in just a minute or so when exposed to UV light.