Polyurethane Tubing to Minimize Pain During Nail Injections
Nail matrix and nail bed injections are painful and can cause considerable patient anxiety. Because most patients receive injections in both hands, some methods to decrease periprocedural anxiety, such as squeezing a stress ball, cannot be utilized. Clenching a length of polyurethane tubing with the teeth during nail injections is a safe and cost-effective strategy that may decrease anxiety and increase the likelihood that patients will return for follow-up injections, thereby leading to better clinical outcomes.
In addition to reducing anxiety and pain, this method also distracts the patient and therefore promotes patient and physician safety. Patients are less likely to jump or startle during the injection, thereby reducing the risk of physically interfering with the nail surgeon or making an unanticipated advance into the surgical field.
Although frustrated patients with nail disease may need to “bite the bullet” when they accept treatment with nail injections, lessons from our patient and from United States history offer a safe and cost-effective pain management strategy. Minimizing discomfort and anxiety during the first nail injection is crucial because doing so is likely to promote adherence with follow-up injections and therefore improve clinical outcomes.
Future clinical studies should validate the clinical utility of oral mastication and clenching during nail procedures compared to other perioperative stress- and anxiety-reducing techniques.
