WHAT NUMBING CREAM DO PROFESSIONALS USE?
Compounded BLT — Benzocaine 20%, Lidocaine 10%, Tetracaine 10% — not the 4–5% lidocaine sold at retail. It is prepared by a compounding pharmacy per order and supplied to licensed providers. This page covers who uses what, and why the professional answer is different from the shelf answer.
WHY THE PROFESSIONAL ANSWER IS ALWAYS A COMPOUND
Ask a tattoo artist, a nurse injector and a dermatology nurse what they numb with, and the names sound different — "triple anesthetic", "BLT", "20/10/10", "compounded cream". They are describing the same category of product: a topical prepared by a compounding pharmacy that carries more than one anesthetic agent, at concentrations no over-the-counter product is permitted to reach.
The reason is arithmetic rather than preference. Retail numbing creams are capped at roughly 4–5% lidocaine as a single agent. A compounded BLT carries three agents totalling around 40%. Benzocaine works quickly at the surface, lidocaine carries the effect deeper, and tetracaine holds it for longer. Each covers a different part of the problem, which is why the combination behaves unlike a stronger version of any one of them.
The second reason is who is accountable. A compounded preparation is made against a formula, in a licensed compounding pharmacy, with a beyond-use date and a named pharmacy behind it. That record is what lets a provider use it inside their own protocol — and it is exactly what a retail tube bought online cannot offer.
WHO USES WHAT
The compound is the same. What changes is the wait, the area and the format each profession asks for.
Large areas and long sessions, so artists care about how long the effect holds rather than how fast it starts. Studio use sits under the supervising provider or clinic that holds the account.
Filler and neuromodulator work is short but sharply felt at each entry point. Lips and the perioral area drive most requests for the stronger four-agent option.
Biopsies, resurfacing, peels and cryotherapy. Practices often keep both bases on hand because the ointment stays in place where a cream would migrate.
Applied before injection, with scope of practice for who applies it set by the state dental board. The account is held by the practice’s licensed dentist.
Hair removal, resurfacing and tattoo removal. Everything must be removed before the handpiece touches skin, so removal discipline matters as much as the compound.
Brow and lip work on a small, highly visible area. Artists work with a provider-held account because the concentration is not a retail product.
Also used across microneedling, podiatry and med spa practice. Full reference on the procedures page.
WHAT “PROFESSIONAL” ACTUALLY MEANS
“Professional strength” is a marketing phrase and anyone may print it. What separates a genuine professional product is narrower and duller: it is compounded to a formula in a 503A pharmacy under USP 795, it carries a beyond-use date rather than a multi-year shelf life, and it is dispensed to a licensed provider whose credentials were checked first.
MediCaine verifies an NPI before dispensing, and the account sits with the licensed provider — not with an individual artist, assistant or member of staff. That is also why there is no retail checkout: a 40% total-anesthetic compound sold to whoever adds it to a cart is a different product category with a different risk attached, whatever the label says.
How a given provider uses it — where, for how long, on which patients, and with what precautions — belongs to that provider’s own protocol and clinical judgement, not to a web page. What we can tell you is what is in it, who made it, and how long it is good for. The rest is the reason the licence requirement exists.
FOUR THINGS A REAL ONE CAN TELL YOU
Not “maximum strength” — the actual numbers, agent by agent. Ours are Benzocaine 20%, Lidocaine 10%, Tetracaine 10%.
A named, licensed pharmacy you can look up. If no pharmacy is named anywhere, ask why before you order.
Compounded preparations carry a beyond-use date set under USP 795 — typically six months here — rather than a manufactured shelf life measured in years.
If a compound at this concentration can be bought without anyone verifying a licence, that is information about the seller.
What the initials mean, what each of the three anesthetics does, and how the 20/10/10 compound is put together
The direct comparison against 4–5% retail lidocaine, agent by agent
Every size and format with prices, from single-use packets to the professional jar
WHAT PROFESSIONALS USE
What numbing cream do tattoo artists use?+
What numbing cream do dermatologists use?+
What do nurse injectors use before fillers and Botox?+
Can I buy the same numbing cream professionals use?+
Is professional numbing cream just a stronger version of the drugstore one?+
How do I order it for my practice?+
USE WHAT THE PROFESSIONALS USE
Compounded BLT, prepared per order in a licensed 503A pharmacy and dispensed to verified providers.