Vibration dulls pain of injection

US skin cancer clinic study shows it even helps those who catastrophise pain
Reuters Health
vibrating device
Photo: Blaine Labs

A vibratory device can reduce the pain of an anaesthetic injection prior to skin cancer surgery, but it it is not as effective in patients who catastrophise pain, a study shows.

US plastic surgeons studied 87 patients who underwent a total of 101 cutaneous cancer surgeries at a tertiary dermatological surgery clinic, with most surgeries being on the head and neck.