Dr. Sean Simon discusses Exparel, an injectable painkiller that works for up to 72 hours after surgery. Over 40% of surgical patients experience moderate to severe pain the next day. In trials, Exparel cut sharp incision pain by more than 30% and reduced oral pain medication needs by over 40%.
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Hearing your doctor say, "We're going to have to operate," can send shivers down your spine. A big concern: the pain. Now there's a new injection that helps numb the pain for days after you go under the knife. And as medical reporter Kristi Krueger shows us, patients are up and about feeling better a whole lot faster after this almost painless surgery.
Every year in the United States, more than 51 million people undergo surgery that requires hospitalization. A recent study showed that more than 40% of all patients have moderate to severe pain 24 hours after their operation, leading to longer hospital stays and an increase in pain medication. Fear of that pain is exactly why busy mom Liz Mateo put off the breast augmentation surgery she really wanted.
I was nervous, of course, because I didn't know. I never had a surgery, so I was scared if the pain would be so much that I couldn't tolerate it.
Lucky for her, Liz's doctor, plastic surgeon Sean Simon, has been researching some something new. This is Exparel. Like Novocaine, it numbs the area surrounding the incision site, but this analgesic has a special coating making it last for 3 days after surgery.
This is different because it's protecting the medication from being used all at one time, and it just releases it slowly over time. So it uses the same medicine, just with a slow-release methodology.
In clinical trials, Exparel reduced the patient's pain at the incision site by more than 30% and also reduced their need for oral pain medication by more than 40%. Percent. The injection is given just as the surgery is wrapping up.
There's still feelings of soreness and pressure, but the sharp pain is virtually eliminated during that 72-hour period. So patients definitely do better with this.
Liz had her surgery and was up and feeling better much faster than she ever expected.
But it wasn't like excruciating pain, that, that was always my fear because you think surgery, oh my God, like it's gonna hurt so bad. But that That really wasn't the case.
The medication can be used in just about any kind of surgery. Right now, Exparel is not covered by all insurance companies, so it will cost you about $300 to get the injection.
