How Painful Is Permanent Makeup?

1. Feasibility: Is it okay to use numbing cream before microblading?

Since semi-permanent makeup uses a high-speed needle to bring pigment into the dermis of the skin, it will cause damage to the epidermis and dermis of the skin (although the damage is relatively small). Semi-permanent makeup is bound to be painful, but the pain is much less than a body tattoo. Before treatment, professional tattoo artists will use painless tattoo numb products to manage the pain for patients.

Solution: What cream can I use to numb for a tattoo?

At present, there are many numbing relief products on the market, and the common types are pain-free tattoo numbing cream, numbing essence, numbing gel, numbing spray, and numbing patch. Different types of numbing products are used in different scenarios and needs (if you want to know more about how to choose the right pain-free product, you can browse our series of articles on numbing products). The more commonly used pain-free tattoo product is tattoo numbing cream, which is simpler and more convenient to use than other types of no-pain products, and it is easy to control the dosage, which is more friendly to semi-permanent makeup beginners.

Effectiveness: Do tattoo numbing creams really work?

Using numbing cream before a tattoo can effectively numb the patient's skin to avoid pain during treatment. The active ingredients of the numbing cream are lidocaine, procaine, and epinephrine. Depending on the different combinations of active ingredients, the numbing effect on the patient's skin can reach 40% to 90%.

1. Lidocaine and procaine

They have similar effects; both of them achieve analgesic effects by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses. The difference is that their onset and duration of action are different. Lidocaine takes effect quickly but lasts for a short time, while procaine takes effect slowly but lasts for a long time. The combination of the two can achieve a fast onset and long duration effect, ensuring that patients will not feel pain during treatment.

2. Epinephrine

The addition of epinephrine can effectively delay the absorption of lidocaine and procaine, prolong the numbness effect, and at the same time, epinephrine can cause the contraction of skin blood vessels, which helps to reduce bleeding in the tattoo area.

Safety: Is it good to put numbing cream before a tattoo?

The safety of numb tattoo cream is closely related to its ingredient content. We strongly recommend that you check the product ingredient description and content ratio before using deep numb tattoo cream to ensure that the content of various ingredients is within the safe range. According to medical literature guidelines (you can also check on Wikipedia), the lidocaine and procaine ingredients of numbing creams for external use on the human body should not exceed 5% (that is, the numbing ingredient content in each 1g of cream should not exceed 50mg). Some national drug administrations require that it should not exceed 4%. For specific regulations, please check the drug management regulations in your area. In addition, numbing creams have the risk of causing allergies and redness and swelling. Therefore, before using numb skin cream for tattoos, patch tests must be applied to the treatment area (avoiding damaged skin). Pregnant women, breastfeeding women, children, people with heart disease, high blood pressure, or abnormal liver and kidney function should not use it. When using, avoid contact with eyes and mucous membranes.

Onset of Effect: How long to leave on tattoo numbing cream?

The onset time of numb cream tattoo is affected by the formula and the content of active ingredients. Common pure numb tattoo creams generally take effect in 20 minutes. Depending on the different treatment items and the depth of the operation on the skin, we recommend different waiting times to ensure that the patient's treatment area has been fully numbed before the operation. Taking our best numbing cream for microblading, “Super Numb Tattoo Cream,” as an example, we recommend that for semi-permanent makeup treatments, you wait for 25-30 minutes; for body tattoo operations, wait for 60-75 minutes.

Duration: How long does numbing cream last?

The duration of the numb cream tattoo is also affected by the formula and the content of the active ingredients. Generally speaking, high-quality cream to numb before a tattoo can ensure that patients do not feel pain throughout the treatment process. Taking our “super numb cream” as an example, the numbing effect can generally last for 3-4.5 hours.

It is worth noting that there may be individual differences in the numbing effect. For example, patients who have undergone major surgery may be resistant to numbing ingredients; patients are strong and have thicker skin, which makes the skin insensitive to painless tattoo numbing cream. It is recommended to do a pain test for the patient before the treatment begins.

If the patient feels pain during the treatment, a secondary numbing relief product can be used if necessary to prolong the numbness time.

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