How Much Lidocaine Cream Should You Use

What is a right amount of lidocaine cream? While a minor here and there won’t matter, you should know how much you should use for tattooing, piercing, waxing and other processes.

Lidocaine cream or topical anesthetic numbs the skin patch before the painful processes like tattooing, piercing, waxing, Botox and vaccination. The cream is also used to ease minor burn, stings, cuts, scratches and sunburn.

Lidocaine cream blocks the pain receptors so that they can’t send pain signals to the brain. Consequently, you don’t feel pain thereafter. The cream is applied 45 minutes/1 hour before the painful processes. You will experience the numbness within 15 minutes after the application.

It is just like any topical skincare cream. But you should be careful about the amount. Keep in mind that it is a local anesthetic which dulls your skin patch by temporarily blocking your pain receptors.

It should be applied according to the instructions. The wrong or improper use causes burning, stinging, sensitivity and dizziness as the cream penetrates the skin at a deeper layer.

According to the FDA—“When applied to the skin surface, they can be absorbed into the blood stream and, if used improperly, may cause life-threatening side effects, such as irregular heartbeat, seizures, breathing difficulties, coma, or even death.”

Lidocaine is the most effective topical anesthetic and 5% of it is enough to keep the skin numb for 90 minutes. A widely used lidocaine cream like NumbSkin contains 5% of lidocaine.

Here we have explained how much quantity of a lidocaine cream is right for your tattooing, waxing and piercing.

For Tattoos:

• 10g tube for an ankle or wrist type tattoo
• 30g tube for the tattoo of the size of your palm
• 2x30 g tube for larger parts like shoulder, lower leg calf and upper arm
• 3x30 g tubes for full upper arm and full lower leg

For Piercing:

• 10g Tube for ear, lip or belly button
• 30g Tube for more wide area piercings

For Waxing and Laser:

• 10g Tube for bikini line and eyebrow pluck
• 30g Tube for Brazilian waxing of lower legs below knee
• 2x 30g tubes for entire leg area

For Botox and Cosmetics:

30g Tube for lips and permanent makeup

Injections and Vaccinations:

10g Tube for 3-5 needle injection site numbing
30g Tube for 7-10 needle injection site numbing

How to Use Numbing Cream on a Child

If the baby is O up to 3 month with less than 5 kg, use 1 gram of the cream to be applied on the area of 10 cm2. Use 2 g of cream for the child age 3 up to 12 months with less than 5 kg while the maximum application area is 20 cm2. Use 10 g of the cream on the area of 100 cm2 for 1 to 6 years old less than 10 kg. Use 20 gram of the cream on 200 cm2 of the area for 7 to 12 years old (weight less than 20 kg).

For Adult Male Genital Skin:

1 gram of the cream to be applied over 10 cm2 of the skin patch. Keep it for 15 minutes.

For Female Genital Skin:

Apply a thick layer (5 to 10 grams) of the Cream for 5 to 10 minutes.

Final Thought:

So you must have understood the right usage of a lidocaine cream for all purposes. Yeah, it may be tricky to get the right amount of the cream as per mentioned above. Don’t worry. The cream can be based on your estimation—it can be a bit here and there. Keep one thing in mind that always use lidocaine cream according the manufacturer’s instructions given on the pack.