Topical pain reduction products

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Topical pain reduction products

Below is an alphabetical list (NOT a ranking) of many of the more common topical pain reduction products. Many of these are made by "mom and pop" operations, so I have also narrowed these to a recommended list, discussed on the following pages:

Recommended products:

Purchasing information
Comparison
Clinical data

Disclaimer:

A pain medication which works perfectly for one consumer may not work at all for another.

I make absolutely no guarantee that any product mentioned in this section will work for you or will work better or worse for you than another product.

For details, see my  Pain management intro page.

Because price and effectiveness vary wildly, I have marked recommended products as follows:

= good effectiveness
$ = good value
Rx = prescription (might be covered on insurance)

Brand	Active ingredient*	Form	Cost	Maker
Ametop $ (1)	T 4%	gel		Smith & Nephew
Anesthall	L 1%, B 11%	liquid	2.13oz
Anodyne Rx	L 5%, T 5%	gel	1.00g	Allied Health
Athesia	B 10%	liquid	2.33oz	Kree
Assist II –		liquid	1.81oz
Betacaine Rx (2)		cream		Theraderm
Biofreeze	M 3.5%; C 0.2%	liquid	1.09oz	Biofreeze
Dermine	B	liquid	1.84oz	Instantron
ELA-Max	L 4%	cream	1.11g	Ferndale Labs
ELA-Max 5 $	L 5%	cream	1.31g	Ferndale Labs
EMLA Rx $	L 2.5%, P 2.5%	cream		Astrazenica
Eutectic LA (2)				Theraderm
Hurricaine		liquid
Laracaine		liquid	1.93g	Lorenzo Int'l.
Laracaine		cream	2.33g	Lorenzo Int'l.
Liquidcaine	L 4%	liquid	.70ml
Medigel L	L 4%, M	gel	10.50oz	Maxxim
Mento-kaine	B 20%, Ph, C, M	liquid	1.81oz
Painless 400		spray	9.92oz	Universal
Prepcaine	L 2%, B 2%		40.00oz
Prestocaine
Protocaine	B 2%	liquid
Stud spray (3)	L 9.6%	spray	27.43oz
Sustaine	L 4% T 2% E .02%	gel	35.00oz
TAELA504	L 4%	cream	1.43g	Instantron
Topicaine	L 4%	gel	12.00g	Dermascan
Trio	L T B	cream	40oz
Ultradyne
Zap		gel

* Active ingredient abbreviations:

T = tetracaine (amethocaine)
L = lidocaine (lignocaine)
P = prilocaine
B = benzocaine
E = epinephrine
M = menthol
C = camphor
Ph = Phenol

(1) Not available in the US at this time.

(2) Betacaine was formerly called Eutectic LA

(3) This product is designed to help males maintain stamina during intercourse, but its strength makes it a useful anesthetic for other purposes.