Topical pain reduction products


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.