Three freshmen students from Rice University has come up with a new device that will make injections totally painless, according to Rice University News.
The device, aptly named Comfortably Numb, eases the pain of injection by numbing the patient's skin before the shot is administered thus reducing if not completely eliminating the pain.
According to CNet, the device works in the same as ice packs that are used to numb pain. The device has a 3D-printed cylinder with a metal plate at one end. Inside the cylinder are two tubes that separately holds water and ammonium nitrate.
The device is activated by twisting the cylinder that mixes the water and ammonium nitrate which when applied to a portion of the skin causes it to numb. The team behind the novel idea is planning to incorporate a needle into their device which, in theory, will be able to numb and administer the injection in just one procedure.
The device's design is very basic since the team behind it is composed of freshmen students who hadn't learned advance material sciences.
Team member Greg Allison said that due to their lack of refined skills, they resorted to very simple solutions. He added that their limitation in certain areas led them to create something very novel and innovative while at the same time elegant and simple.
The team acknowledged that their device might have other application outside of the medical field. They pointed that it can be used in tattooing, ear piercing as well as swelling reduction. Despite the possibility of a much broader scope of application, the team said that their main focus is for medical application.