Journal time: Can you prevent pain when doing facial injections (fillers like Juvederm and Restylane, Botox, et al)? And can you do this without having to do another injection?
“A Randomized Controlled Trial of Three Noninvasive Analgesic Techniques for the Prevention of Pain During Facial Injections.” was a study in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal January 2021.
Why study it?
If any of you have ever had any injections- Botox on the forehead? Filler in the cheek? And don’t get me started on filler in the lips. OW! Also people vary in their level of tolerance.
Study:
- 3 noninvasive techniques were looked at. COLD. TOPICAL ANESTHETIC CREAM. and VIBRATION.
- 100 patients
- Forehead injections
- Randomized, single blind, controlled trial. Each had 4 injections of .1cc of saline with a 29G needle.
- Results were done by survey
Findings?
- All methods had better pain control than no treatment.
- Vibration performed better than the other pain blocking techniques. Cold and topical cream were equivalent.
- The average amount of pain per injection was higher in males than females. (Just had to bold that finding. :))
My thoughts?
Go vibration! The vibrating device was Beauty Bar applied to the skin below the injection site before and during injection (vibration frequency of 6000rpm). Icing was done for 50 seconds before injection. Topical numbing cream was EMLA covered with a plastic dressing for 30 minutes before treatment.
They found the vibration effect was instantaneous and it doesn’t cause discomfort. (No brain freeze, or having messy cream on for 30 minutes.)
I love it! I just ordered it. Can’t wait to see it if works better.