Lidoderm?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

I’m wondering if any of you have experimented with the Lidoderm patch. I tried it today and found it somewhat effective. (You can read the data on-line.) I had the thing on for 2 hours and then anesthesia lasted, after removal, about 2 hours (not full anesthesia of course).

Any others tried this? Nicely, it’s super easy to use; you just peel it back and put it on the skin: the lidocaine is in the adhesive (no mess at all). The patch contains 700 mg of Lidocaine and that’s a LOT. It’s about the perfect size for a bikini area. (I put my glasses in the photo to show relative size.)

Lidoderm.jpg811×1024

#2

Sounds good. For a man’s back you could work patch by patch, or just get a bigger patch. Lol. 2 hours occlusion is a long time though, ok if you walk in with it on.

#3

Mine stuck to me like glue (walking and normal activities were fine) … and it was easy to remove. Still, this is a very powerful application (by prescription) and I think I had some systemic reactions. (Could be psychosomatic … so, I will try this a few more times.)

My opinion at this point: this patch is not as safe as injection. Here you are applying 700 mg to the skin and you are not sure of the rate of absorption. Typically injected lidocaine is at maximum: 9 mg, 3X @20 minute intervals … over an entire hour. That’s 27 mg total — compared to 700 mg — and is much more easily controlled and monitored.

I wonder if the laser folks have tried these. I think using two of them, or a larger patch, would be questionable: too much medication in a short time? I have not used this on any client … more experiments on myself. I try all new things on myself first. If I die from this, I’ll let you know.

#4

That is a lot of lidocaine.

Geeza - When with Jossie, we leave EMLA occluded for about two hours as well. When you are doing something like the thighs, it makes walking around pretty difficult! I also found that EMLA didn’t work very well on my thighs and upper arms and I actually found myself wondering at that time if there was any other option that would numb larger areas and well.

#5

I have used it for SRS prep and I did not like it. The first thing that I did not like about it was the fact that I had to have it on for two hours before I felt a little numbing, the second thing I did not like was the fact that it was difficult to keep it on in that area, the third thing I did not like was the fact that I felt every single probe, a three hour appointment lasted twenty minutes. I went back to injections and got the job done.

#6

Old topic, recent experience.

I have found the Lidoderm patch effective in reducing sensation on the face where the really painful spots are (upper lip, near the jaw hinges, etc) by cutting up one patch to hit the key areas. I found it much more effective when applied for 3 hours. I did need adhesive tape at the edges, as it is difficult to not move the face.
It did not numb like a dental injection numbs the lips. I can normally handle electrolysis on the less sensitive areas of the face for 1 to 1.5 hours without it any pain reduction aids other than acetaminophen.

The product info shows peak level in the blood at 11 to 12 hours, it is systemic in effect as it does raise the level in the blood. When used for back or neck pain it’s 12 hours on, 12 hours off and up to 3 patches at once.

My partner used these for over 6 months for neck and shoulder pain related to surgery with no observed long term effects.

Cost US $10 per patch.
Advantage, can be self applied, not likely to OD with one patch.
Disadvantage, very slow absorption, does not provide full numbing of the area where applied (it was not designed to do that), stays in your system for hours, and as Michael stated, a small amount of injected lidocaine where it is needed will be more effective and will metabolize out quicker.

It would be handy to have a different product that delivered a smaller amount of the drug at a very high rate.