Has anyone used the Emla patch? Is it effective/large enough for a Flex series installation?
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I tried implanting a flex after applying Emla cream, and keeping it on for 3hoirs straight, as advised for the packing.
I’d say that I have a high tolerance for pain, but I only managed to go half way through with the procedure.
The cream lost effect rather quickly when I took the patch of, so I decided to sew my hand back again before it was all gone.
I’d rather recommend getting the pain managing kit:
The one ampule is packed with a 100mg anasthetic and should work much better.
As a side note, yes I did try to do the procedure on myself as the closest installer is 3000km (~1850miles) away and I couldn’t find anyone locally willing to do it XP
I ordered the Elma cream from my local chemist for my second implant (after using the patch for the first), and it comes with quite a lot of anaesthesia and coverings that would be better than the single patch (IMHO) - but whether it’s enough… I’m a complete sook, so I would go for something stronger, but I defer to others on this.
The patch is too small for this procedure, but it works amazingly well. After 2 hours you’re totally numb.
The trick with topicals is that you must go above and beyond what the packaging says and fully occlude the site so absolutely no air escapes. To do this, I’ve soaked the gauze of a waterproof bandage with topical creme, then after the bandage was placed, I further covered the entire bandage and surrounding area with overlapping surgical tape so it was completely air-tight, then finally wrapped a tensor bandage around the whole arm to hold everything tight to the skin… after 2 hours I was basically 100% numb and it stayed that way for just over 30 minutes, losing effectiveness completely after about 1.5 hours.
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I forgot to say that I had a clear plastic band aid that was included in the package over the cream, sealing it airtight to the skin. But I do guess the one you buy in the US is stronger or contained different things than the weak ass shit we get in Norway.
If you don’t use a waterproof bandage and don’t put surgical tape over the entire thing, and don’t use a tensor bandage to hold everything super tight, then it just doesn’t have the same effect.
I don’t know about that… honestly we have 4% lidocaine here but in the EU I saw stuff for kids that was 2% lidocaine and 2% prilocaine, which together work better than just lidocaine alone. It really is heavily dependent on how well you secure the bandage to the skin and how much gel you can get in there… but mostly the security part. Way over-do the surgical tape and tensor bandaging.
Thanks for info/discussion. Some good tips here.
Another thing because I’m curious, I recently had surgery (under 18 so at a pediatric hospital so I get a lot of the fun numbing stuff) and they used what I believe to be something similar to en elma patch to numb my arm before they IV’ed me. It felt a bit warm after a while but did what felt like nothing to numb the pain. Knowing this, would an elma patch do anything for numbing if I wanted to do, say a flex install?
I don’t know if it was the Emla creme or something similar for the FlexDF (side of the hand after the pimkie) I think the creme was on for about 30 minutes. I only feel a bit, for me it was absolut okay.
If it did nothing, then it was not an emla patch, or they didn’t leave it on long enough. An emla patch (or rigged occluded creme patch) takes 2 hours for full effectiveness, and after that (if done properly), you will be completely numb under the patch.
Yeah I don’t think it was, they only left it on for about 20-30 minutes and IVed me right after they took it off. I bet they just didn’t do it right or it’s something else entirely
Actually, haha, if it was warm, then it was not meant to manage pain at all, but to make your blood vessels expand for easier sticking 
They did this on my wife last time too.
Odd - they told me it would numb it a bit, but for all I know it could’ve been a placebo sort of thing.
probably