New In My Practice | Cosmeceuticals: Cearna's OcuMend Pads

In each issue, Modern Aesthetics® asks top cosmetic physicians about the newest cosmeceuticals that they are offering to patients. Here, Jason D. Bloom, MD, a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the Main Line Center for Plastic Surgery in Ardmore, PA, discusses the role that Cearna's OcuMend Pads can play in reducing post-op bruising and swelling.

What are OcuMend pads?

Jason D. Bloom, MD: OcuMend's hydrogel pads treat bruising, pain, and swelling after both cosmetic fillers (and other injectables) and facial surgery procedures, like blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, and facelifts. The patented pads contain Arnica and Ledum, with 50-times the potency of standard Arnica products to help significantly reduce and almost eliminate bruising after injectable treatments.

How does OcuMend stand out from other recovery aids on the market?

Dr. Bloom: OcuMend is the best product I've tried for post-op bruising. It dramatically reduces bruising from fillers to the low levels that patients can comfortably deal with and cover with some minimal makeup. Bruising matters to my patients, and I do my best to provide the highest standard of care.

How/when do you suggest that your patients use OcuMend?

Dr. Bloom: OcuMend pads should be applied immediately after cosmetic fillers or surgery to reduce bruising and swelling. For injectable patients, we suggest that patients wear four pads on their face, for six-hour increments—swapping out pads after six hours—for 12 hours or 18 hours for patients who consider themselves easy or heavy bruisers. My surgery patients typically have the four pads applied in the post-op recovery unit and then wear them home and swap them out every six hours or so for 48 to 72 hours after surgery.

What type of results are your patients seeing with regular use of OcuMend?

Dr. Bloom: My patients consistently love using the pads and their comfortable, cooling sensation. The results speak for themselves. Good surgical technique is obviously critical, but some patients have said that they attribute their minimal bruising to the pads. The typical patient who applies OcuMend after fillers sees minimal to no bruising. Any bruising that is noticed is usually able to be easily covered with some cover-up makeup. OcuMend gel pads can also reduce surgical recovery time by about 50 percent, which usually saves at least a week of time during the healing process. Most rhinoplasty or blepharoplasty patients have mild to minimal bruising at one week that is easily able to be covered. Patients love this, because they are able to get back to work or school much more quickly.

What other procedures does OcuMend work best with?

Dr. Bloom: OcuMend works well for all injectable hyaluronic acid filler treatments, Radiesse, Sculptra, and Bellafill. Additionally, if you're doing RF microneedling treatments, like Morpheus 8, Profound, or Vivace, or non-ablative laser treatments, OcuMend can drastically reduce bruising, pain, and swelling. It can also be used with other injectables products like Kybella or even for heavy bruisers with neuromodulators. The biggest benefit I see is the application for facial surgery: upper and lower blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, brow lifts, structural fat grafting, and facelift procedures.