Needle Phobia Club Rejoice: The Painless invisible Needles
The fear of needles also known as Trypanophobia is one of the most common fears. It has been estimated that up to 50% of adolescents exhibit a fear of needles, which decreases as they reach adulthood though 20-30% of adults remain fearful of needles.¹ The fear of needles is something all medical practitioners encounter in their career and it becomes a big problem to administer medication via IV or IM. There have been cases of people not seeking badly needed medical attention just because of the fear of getting pricked by a needle. This becomes an issue even when giving vaccinations. Since most people develop Trypanophobia during their pediatric years, it is very important that we try to eliminate this issue during this time period. Keeping that in mind, a young group of researchers led by Ibrahim Sajid have developed a prototype for a pain free invisible needle to nip the issue in the bud.² The device currently, in clinical trials, consists of a shield with animations present on it. It will obstruct the view of the patient with the area distal to the the shield being numbed with local anesthesia, which will result in the patient not noticing the insertion of the needle. The best part is that it is less costly, which will enable it to be used widely. References:- 1. McLenon J, Rogers MAM. The fear of needles: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Adv Nurs. 2019 Jan;75(1):30-42. doi: 10.1111/jan.13818. Epub 2018 Sep 11. PMID: 30109720. 2. Sajid, M.I., Ahmed, A.S., Baig, M.A. et al. A low-cost low-tech solution to lessen the fear of needles in children. Pediatr Res (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-01178-8 3. Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels