Ouchless needle takes sting out of Botox

Posted at: 10/22/2009 9:25 AM | Updated at: 10/22/2009 9:39 AM
By: Lori Lyle, NBC News

Botox and filler-filled faces are smiling ear-to-ear hearing the news.   It's a lunch hour fix that can finally be quick and pain free.

"I really of hated to see people had pain from it. They're wincing," Dr. Marc Salzman, a plastic surgeon, said.

Claudette Waggoner knows exactly the pain Dr. Salzman is referring to.

"I was gripping the handles on the seat. It was pretty intense." She said, of her last visit.

Typically, patients getting fillers get a numbing cream.

"And you usually had to wait a while, anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, and it didn't really always work," Waggoner said.

When it did finally kick in -- says Salzman -- the numbing could last hours.

He thought that there had to be a better way and says this is it.

A small canister, sitting right above the needle, filled with what's called vapo-coolant.

"A vapo coolant replicates the effect of ice. But it's rapid cooling," Dr. Salzman said.

The effect lasts only a few seconds, but that?s long enough.

"So I spray a little bit. Then I'm going to inject just where I spray," Dr. Salzman said.

It's immediate relief that gets immediate reaction.

"Honestly. A lot less painful," Waggoner said.

This model fits on the syringes of popular neurotoxins and fillers, but there are even bigger plans.

"Eventually for pediatric IV's, pediatric immunizations, epidural, catheter placement for pregnant women," Dr. Salzman said.

That's on the way, but in the meantime, people like Claudette get in, out and on their way, pain free.

"Just to be able to touch up my make up like I just did and go back to work, it was a treat compared to the last time," Waggoner said.

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