Apparatus and method for ethyl chloride topical anesthesia

摘要

Apparatus for topical anesthesia by evaporative cooling with ethyl chloride (chloroethane) constitutes a container holding liquid ethyl chloride under pressure. A valve attached to the container hermetically seals the container in a first mode of operation. A second mode of operation of the valve is affected by finger pressure to emit a divergent fluid stream of ethyl chloride. The method of topical anesthesia using the apparatus constitutes positioning the surface area to be anesthetized at a distance from a divergent fluid stream of ethyl chloride such that a substantial portion of that area will subtend the divergent stream to provide faster and more uniform cooling than the non- divergent ethyl chloride stream of the prior art.