Pointless Band-Aid

For some reason, Bob wears an adhesive bandage strip on his face, all the time. It's not because he cut himself shaving, or because he's just suffered some Amusing Injuries—in fact, he doesn't seem to be hurt at all. Apparently, the Band-Aid's only purpose is as an accessory to make his character design more visually interesting, or to make him look cool. Often shows up in animation, and is rarely commented on by the characters.

Compare Bandage Babe and Sarashi; contrast Bandaged Face. A subtrope of Useless Accessory.

Examples of Pointless Band-Aid include:

Anime & Manga

The main character of History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi uses one for no good reason (although he does get beat up a lot). He's actually nicknamed "Band-Aid" by one of the other characters. He does have a small scar under the band-aid.
Tenchi Muyo! GXP's main character Seina Yamada wears a Band-Aid on his forehead most of the show. Initially it could be due to him being a Cosmic Plaything, but after being enhanced he's almost invulnerable and still keeps it, so it fits.
Monta from Eyeshield 21 always wears a bandage on his nose as can be seen here. When a fan asked about this, it was confirmed he wears it just for decoration.
- Although this isn't the case for Monta, real football players will occasionally wear nasal strips, especially receivers.
Ryohei and his First Generation Counterpart from Katekyo Hitman Reborn both always have bandages on their noses.
The Prince of Tennis
- Ryo Shishido always wears a Band-Aid near his left eye.
- Eiji Kikumaru used to have one on his nose, then started wearing it on his left cheek.
Pip Vernedead from Hellsing has one on his nose. He's always seen with one on, even during a flashback sequence of his childhood.
Subverted in Flame of Recca: Recca's friends think the bandage on his face is just to look cool, but it actually hides a katana scar he received as a baby. Double Subverted that when the reveal hits in, he just put the band-aid back and treat it like nothing happened, and that scar was never brought up again.
Mellowlink from Armor Hunter Mellowlink has a Band-Aid on his cheek just below the eye.
Riko in Kiss×Sis always has a bandaid on the side of face.
Makoto Kyogoku from Detective Conan has one on his left temple.
Axis Powers Hetalia
- Australia has one across his nose, Wy has one on her forehead, and recently Hutt Rier was shown to have one on his left cheek.
- Some of the male Japanese Prefectures have those too: Saga (nose bridge), Kagoshima (left temple), Kumamoto (left cheek) and Tokyo (middle of the forehead).
In Moyashimon, Aoi Mutou is introduced wearing one of these, though according to the author's notes it's because she got sunburned on her journey back to Japan, and she eventually stops wearing it.
Ouran High School Host Club
- In one episode, Renge gives Shiro a few of these (both on his face and his knee) when she's trying to turn him into the "naughty type".
- Also, a later episode has the Host Club putting a bright pink one right on Kasanoda/Casanova/Bossa Nova's face (along with a few other things,) in an attempt to help change his image.
Deconstructed in Loveless. At first it looks like Ritsuka is playing this trope straight, especially since he initially gives off an Delinquent impression, but we find out later that he has a very real reason for it.
Gingka from Beyblade has a band-aid on his nose.

Comics -- Books

In early Deadpool comics, Deadpool's rival T-Ray wore a bandage across the bridge of his nose all the time. According to a letter column it wasn't originally pointless, having been put there to hold his nose to his face after it fell off; eventually his Healing Factor took care of the problem, but he kept wearing it for no real reason.

Films -- Live-Action

In Pulp Fiction, Marcellus Wallace has a band-aid on the back of his neck that is never explained or commented on, but is highly visible during a scene in the movie where he is interviewing another character.
- This led to the Epileptic Tree that the briefcase contained Marcellus' soul, and it was removed from the back of his neck, hence the band-aid. In reality, it's just there to cover a scar on Ving Rhames' neck.
The Parisian taxi driver in Night On Earth has a bandage on his forehead. The director admitted in the DVD extras it was there for visual interest.

Live-Action TV

In WKRP in Cincinnati, newscaster Les Nessman always has at least one Band-Aid visible, although the injuries are never explained.
- It was eventually explained that Les owned a large dog that we never see. In Real Life, however, the actor playing Les suffered an injury prior to the taping of the first episode and wound up wearing a bandage during filming. He decided to make it a trademark of the character, and tried to avoid wearing a Band-Aid in the same place twice.

Video Games

Kazuma Suzuka from Tokimeki Memorial: Girls' Side always wears a Band-Aid under his left eye, perhaps as a shorthand to indicate that he's into sports.
Similarly, Persona 3's Akihiko Sanada has a bandage permanently over his left eye, just to remind you he's a boxer. In middle school, he actually wore one over his nose.
In the Ace Attorney series, Detective Gumshoe has been wearing a bandage in the same spot on his left cheek for at least seven years. It's almost-but-not-quite Lampshaded in Investigations, when he asks, "Do I have something on my face or something?" to which the response is, "Well, actually..." The whole dialogue seems to be drawing attention to his Pointless Band-Aid, and then the punchline ends up being "haha, it's your face" or something equally ignoring it.
Kazuma Sakomoto from Cave Story.
In the second Disgaea, Adell's younger brother, Taro, sports one of these on his left chin/cheek.
Wendel of Suikoden IV and Suikoden Tactics has a white strip on her left cheek, just under the corner of her eye.
Maylene from Pokémon. Given the fact that she's a martial artist and trains fighting Pokémon, she may have injured her nose at least once. However, it appears to be mostly to make a point.
Kooper from Paper Mario, but just his character artwork, though.
- Koops in the sequel appears to have one. Given his shy, clumsy nature, however, it's probably there for a reason. Maybe because you keep kicking him in to things.
In Alpha Protocol, SIE wears a Band-Aid on her left arm. The player never sees her get injured there, but she is a mercenary.
Jimmy, the protagonist of Ape Escape 2 wears a bandage on his nose. It is never explained why.
Shoma Sawamura from Rival Schools is a baseball player who is always shown with one on his nose. One can only assume it is from a stray pitch or sliding head-first to a base. Or because it's a fighting game, but then no one else has one...
Gene from God Hand has a square blue one on his left cheek bone. Sure, he's a rough-and-tumble drifter, but it's really unnecessary. By that, I mean it's pretty neat.
Kurimatsu in Inazuma Eleven.
Luke from Harvest Moon : Tree of Tranquility.

Web Comics

Doc Worth of Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name has a crossed pair of bandages on the right side of his forehead; they're not always present in the strip, but they were in his first appearance and generally show up when Tessa draws him outside continuity. Worth probably needs the bandages, though, since he apparently gets into scrapes a lot. And it's not on his face, but Hanna is also often seen with what looks like a similar crossed-over pair of bandages... on the knee of his pants.
Seven in Off White has one across her nose.

Web Original

Orn "Dutchy" Ayers in Survival of the Fittest v4 is mentioned as wearing a Band-Aid over the bridge of his nose. His profile confirms that this is more of a personality quirk/casual accessory than the result of an injury.
Kenstar of Girlchan in Paradise wears one across the bridge of his nose, as does Maytag, his Distaff Counterpart.
Neopets has the Kikos, an entire species that has these.

Western Animation

Jim Moralès of Code Lyoko always wears a Band-Aid on the left cheek. He's seen once putting on a fresh one, but we're never shown what's underneath.
In the Avatar Super Deformed Shorts, Mai has a Band-Aid on her nose.
Ratso from Jackie Chan Adventures wears one. Somewhere it was said that this was for a fashion statement.

Real Life

Hip Hop recording artist Nelly used to wear a small bandage on his cheekbone as a tribute to one of his "homies" who was in prison.
Pianist Alfred Brendel wears bandages on his fingertips when he plays, supposedly to absorb sweat from his hands so his fingers don't get slippery.