Dressings with a foamed adhesive layer

1. A dressing suitable for topical application to the body, comprising:

a carrier substrate having a first side and opposing second side; and

a layer of a foamed adhesive composition applied to the second side of the carrier substrate, wherein the layer of foamed adhesive composition consists essentially of an adhesive and a substantially homogeneous distribution of closed cells comprising an inert gas contained in the adhesive, wherein the foamed adhesive composition has a soft feel for providing improved comfort.

2. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the closed cells are ovoid, spherical, circular or elongate in structure.

3. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the closed cell comprises a cell dimension selected from the group consisting of average diameter, length and width.

4. The dressing of claim 3 wherein the cell dimension is from about 1 to about 10 micron.

5. The dressing of claim 3 wherein the cell dimension is from about 2 to about 5 micron.

6. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the layer of the foamed adhesive composition has a thickness from about 20 to about 200 micron.

7. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the layer of the foamed adhesive composition has a thickness from about 30 to about 100 micron.

8. The dressing of claim 1 wherein a ratio of the thickness of the layer of the foamed adhesive composition to the cell dimension is from about 0.005 to about 0.50.

9. The dressing of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of the thickness of the layer of the foamed adhesive composition to the average cell diameter is from about 0.03 to about 0.1.

10. The dressing of claim 1 , wherein the foamed adhesive composition has a density from about 0.14 to about 0.80 g/cm 3 .

11. The dressing of claim 1 , wherein the foamed adhesive composition has a density from about 0.19 to about 0.55 g/cm 3 .

12. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the Inert gas is selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, noble gases, hydrocarbons and air.

13. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the layer of foamed adhesive composition comprises from about 15% to about 70% by volume of the inert gas.

14. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the layer of foamed adhesive composition comprises from about 20% to about 60% by volume of the inert gas.

15. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the layer of foamed adhesive composition comprises from about 20% to about 40% by volume of the inert gas.

16. The dressing of claim 1 having a static shear of about 100 minutes or more.

17. The dressing of claim 1 having a static shear of about 300 minutes or more.

18. The adhesive dressing of claim 1 having a static shear of about 1500 minutes or more.

19. The dressing of claim 1 having a static shear of about 20% to about 80% of the static shear of an adhesive dressing comprising the carrier substrate and a layer of non-foamed adhesive composition, wherein the non-foamed adhesive composition is substantially similar to the foamed adhesive composition.

20. The dressing of claim 1 having a static shear of about 60% to about 80% of the static shear of an adhesive dressing comprising the carrier substrate and a layer of non-foamed adhesive composition, wherein the non-foamed adhesive composition is substantially similar to the foamed adhesive composition.

21. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the adhesive layer has a basis weight of from about 20 to about 150 g/m2.

22. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the adhesive layer has a basis weight of from about 30 to about 100 g/m2.

23. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the adhesive layer has a basis weight of from about 30 to about 60 g/m2.

24. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the closed cells comprise about 90% or more of the total number of cells in the adhesive layer.

25. The dressing of claim 1 wherein the closed cells comprise about 95% or more of the total number of cells in the adhesive layer.