Health Newsfeed # 881
ANESTHETIC PATCHES
Show a needle, and many kids will start to cry. No one likes getting a shot, but there is a new way to make the whole experience less nerve-wracking and painful.
Adhesive patches are now on the market that release a mixture of two common anesthetics
directly into the skin. These skin patches are a sort of high tech band-aid. Put them on at least an
hour before a procedure, and the numbing effect will last until well after it's carried out. The
patches reduce pain from needles, iv drips, and laser skin treatments, among other things. Johns
Hopkins professor of anesthesiology Dr. Deborah Schwengel says the patches remove much of
the hassle out of taking your child to the doctor for a shot.
Whenever you bring a needle out, and a kid sees the needles, there's an emotional
component to that needle stick. They expect the pain whether the skin is anesthetized or not. So
they're still scared, they still sometimes move and cry. But the older kids will say, wow, that
didn't hurt. :16
The anesthetic patches also work very well for a population too young to say thanks. They're handy for baby boys...facing a circumcision.
At the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, I'm Tom Haederle reporting.
Copyright 1998 The Johns Hopkins University. All rights reserved.
