Dangers of Numbing Products

Many of my friends have gone in for laser hair removal over the past few years. When I think of laser hair removal, I can't help but to think of immense prolonged sharp pains. Everyone always reassures me that with numbing cream, there is basically no pain and laser hair removal is simple. I don't really buy that. As with all good things in life, there is always a catch. I decided to read up on some numbing products to see what the deal was. Here's what I found!

Skin numbing products can have severe side effects, as recently stated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). The mode of action of skin numbing products like anesthetics is to "desensitize nerve endings." While the patient may feel better because they are not exposed to the pain, when too much of the product is put on the skin, it absorbs in blood stream of the human body. The severe side effects include "irregular heartbeat, seizures, breathing difficulties, coma, or even death."

Interestingly enough, the article touched upon laser hair removal. The dangers of numbing creams can be decreased with proper use of the products. This includes have minimal skin contact with the numbing cream or topical anesthetic and using a cream with a low level of numbness. Additionally, if you're going to use the numbing cream, it is advised that you place it on sensitive parts of the skin, where the laser will hurt more, than on large portions of the skin. Moreover, while many people wrap skin with saran wrap after applying the numbing cream, this is considered dangerous and advised against by the FDA. This is all such useful information to know because I realize that some of my friends have been incorporating these techniques during laser hair removal.

[Source: http://www.uspharmacist.com/content/d/fda_fast_facts/c/12649/]