Cannulas: what a specialist needs to know

Viktor Khramkov, MD, President of the Latvian Association of Plasma Therapy, Plasma Therapy Center "ER Clinic" (Latvia)

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Aesthetic medicine and everything connected with it is developing at a rapid pace. Injection needles are no exception, especially needles called cannulas. Cannulas are blunt needles with an exit port on the side, as opposed to traditional needles that have an exit port at a sharp tip.

The appearance of cannulas in aesthetic medicine has given a new impetus to the development of injection procedures. Cannulas are easy to use, reduce the risk of side effects (pain, swelling, hematomas), shorten the recovery period after procedures, and provide high efficiency, especially when large volumes of the drug are administered [1–8].

Initially, cannulas were used to inject fillers. However, recently they have also been used to administer unstabilized hyaluronic acid (HA) and platelet autoplasma (PRP) [9, 10].

When introduced into tissue structures, the cannula goes around an obstacle in the form of a vessel or nerve, and the needle passes through it. Less invasiveness of injections (pushing apart rather than cutting tissues) reduces pain, which makes the procedure more comfortable for the patient.

The cannula allows you to inject drugs in various anatomical areas with just one injection point. Due to the length of the cannula, you can choose this point in the safest place and process several zones over a fairly large area.

The use of a cannula reduces the risk of intravascular embolism, which increases the level of injection safety [8, 11–15].

When working with a cannula, less effort is required to press the syringe plunger, the product is injected into the tissues at a lower pressure, and this reduces the pain of the procedure.

With the use of the cannula, the rehabilitation period has become shorter and easier.

All this makes the cannula procedure more comfortable, aesthetic and effective for patients. Therefore, it is not surprising that today there are a large number of cannulas from different manufacturers, various models and modifications on the market, so it is important for specialists to know their advantages and disadvantages.

*Full version of the access article in Ukrainian and Russian