A general anesthesia is used in major surgeries where most vital parts and organs of the body are involved and the patient needs to be sedated during the procedure. A regional anesthesia, on the other hand, is used when a certain region of the body is involved. Lastly, the most commonly used type is the local anesthesia that works only on a small and specific part of the body.
Local anesthesia comes in different forms such as injectables, patch, solution, creams, gels, foams, and ointments. Topical anesthetics are commonly used as a pain reliever because of its numbing effect. It also helps relieve itchiness caused by different skin conditions like insect bites, stings, minor burns, scratches, and cuts.
Topical anesthetics is administered to control and lessen the pain before undergoing procedures like laceration repair and cauterization. The use of numbing cream helps avoid the risk of having wound margin distortion that is caused by administering infiltrative injections.
The mechanism of action of a topical anesthesia is to block the nerve conduction on the site of administration as well as the near surrounding area causing numbness and total loss of sensation that lasts for a limited time only. After applying the anesthetic cream or ointment to the area, it takes a couple of minutes up to an hour for it to take effect completely.
The use of local topical anesthesia is very popular among different cosmetic and skin care clinic. It is used for various skin treatment procedures such as removal of warts, mole, and other skin angioma depending on the size and depth.
Topical numbing spray, gel, or cream are also used in aesthetic clinic for procedures like waxing and hair removal that can be very painful for some people especially for those who has low pain tolerance.
Aside from different medical and aesthetic procedures, topical numbing products are now being used in different tattoo salon. This is for people who are very fond of getting a tattoo but too afraid of the excruciating pain that comes with it.
A numbing gel, spray, or cream is applied to the area prior the procedure to relieve the pain. If you are planning to get a tattoo, do not hesitate to ask about tattoo numbing products that could make your experience less painful and more pleasurable with the use of a topical anesthetic which will also give your artist a way to be more creative.
