The efficacy of vibration anesthesia on reducing pain levels during lip augmentation: worth the buzz?

Abstract

Background: Lip augmentation procedures have increased drastically in the last years as patients seek to enhance the shape and size of their lips with dermal fillers. One of the main concerns faced with these procedures is the pain inflicted through injections. On the other hand, many different techniques have been introduced for the reduction of pain while performing office-based minimal invasive procedures. Objectives: This study aims to determine the analgesic effect of vibration anesthesia during lip augmentation procedures and to evaluate its overall effect on the comfort of patients. Methods: A split-lip study was designed in a randomized fashion for 25 lip augmentation patients who received hyaluronic acid fillers with or without with a concurrent vibration stimulus on either half of their lips. Patients were asked to score the pain that they felt during lip injections on a scale from 0 to 10 (0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain ever felt) for either lip half. The pain scores were then analyzed for significance. Results: The overall pain score on the vibration-assisted side was 3.82 +/- 1.73 while the pain score for the side with no vibration was 5.6 +/- 1.76 (P < 0.001). Twenty-three patients (92%) felt less pain with the addition of vibration while, interestingly, 2 patients (8%) stated that they felt an increase in pain levels on the vibration-treated side. Conclusions: Vibration devices can be a safe and effective tool for lowering pain levels in patients undergoing lip augmentation with hyaluronic acid fillers.