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Fast and accurate assessment of skin mechanics holds great promise in diagnosing various epidermal diseases, yet substantial challenges remain in developing simple and wearable strategies for continuous monitoring. Here, we present a design concept, named active near-infrared spectroscopy patch (ANIRP) for continuously mapping skin mechanics. ANIRP addresses these challenges by integrating near-infrared (NIR) sensing with mechanical actuators, enabling rapid measurement (<1 s) of Young’s modulus, high spatial sensing density (~1 cm²), and high spatial sensitivity (<1 mm). Unlike conventional electromechanical sensors, NIR sensors precisely capture vibrational frequencies propagated from the actuators without needing ultraclose contact, enhancing wearing comfort. Demonstrated examples include ANIRPs for comprehensively moduli mapping of artificial tissues with varied mechanical properties emulating tumorous fibrosis. On-body validation of the ANIRP across skin locations confirms its practical utility for clinical monitoring of epidermal mechanics, promising considerable advancements in real-time, noninvasive skin diagnostics and continuous health monitoring. 

Abstract Transdermal drug delivery is of vital importance for medical treatments. However, user adherence to long-term repetitive drug delivery poses a grand challenge. Furthermore, the dynamic and unpredictable disease progression demands a pharmaceutical treatment that can be actively controlled in real-time to ensure medical precision and personalization. Here, we report a spatiotemporal on-demand patch (SOP) that integrates drug-loaded microneedles with biocompatible metallic membranes to enable electrically triggered active control of drug release. Precise control of drug release to targeted locations (<1 mm²), rapid drug release response to electrical triggers (<30 s), and multi-modal operation involving both drug release and electrical stimulation highlight the novelty. Solution-based fabrication ensures high customizability and scalability to tailor the SOP for various pharmaceutical needs. The wireless-powered and digital-controlled SOP demonstrates great promise in achieving full automation of drug delivery, improving user adherence while ensuring medical precision. Based on these characteristics, we utilized SOPs in sleep studies. We revealed that programmed release of exogenous melatonin from SOPs improve sleep of mice, indicating potential values for basic research and clinical treatments.