New Device Takes the “Ouch” Out of Injections

The FDA recently approved a device which is believed to significantly reduce pain both during and after injections. The device called Ouchless Needle is comprised of a canister of Vapocoolant (a topical refrigerant) attached to a disposable syringe and allows clinicians to deliver a blast of topical refrigerant to a patient’s skin seconds prior to injection, thereby numbing the skin to the needle’s pierce.

Studies have found this spray method to be just as effective as messy topical refrigerant creams, some of which need to be applied to the skin at least half an hour prior to injection. The price is also comparable to that of the leading topical refrigerant creams.

According to BellaNovus Development Company LLC, the makers of Ouchless Needle, “The device provides doctors and other clinicians an innovative alternative to numbing creams and ice currently used to minimize localized pain resulting from cosmetic injectables...”

The device which debuted earlier this month has understandably generated a lot of buzz in the cosmetic surgery industry. For many patients, pain is usually a major consideration in the decision to get Botox or other injectables.

According to a 2009 article in the OPRS Journal, 19 percent of people who had never tried to Botox or other injectables said pain was a major deterrent compared to 31 percent of people who had previously tried injectables. Coincidentally, the study referred to those who had no previous experience with injectables as “Naïve.”

However, with this new device such procedures could end up being significantly less painful than people imagine and who knows -– the old adage “beauty is pain” may no longer apply here.