Mosquito Needle | design-by-nature

The mosquito needle works in the same way; serrated sliders enter first, being only 1 mm in length and .1mm in width, it’s contact with the skin is barely noticed. This is unlike the typical straight-edged metal needle, which causes very noticeable and immediate pain. The mosquito needle has been tested with humans and has received positive results. However, Aoyagi does not plan on stopping there; while the injections were considerably less painful, the small amount of pain present lasted longer. This invention is not only helpful to patients needing injections, but also doctors and anyone in the field of medicine. The less painful the injection, the more people may be willing to get shots, which is one way the doctors and pharmacies make money; in giving people shots they don’t necessarily need.

The Mosquito Needle

A research team in Japan led by Seiji Aoyagi has discovered that the serrated edges of a mosquito’s proboscis, the long part that it uses to inject into the skin and drink blood, could be used in modern medicines to make medication injections for people less painful. How is this less painful? When one is bitten by a mosquito, it is never actually felt in action. This is due to the fact that the proboscis has two tiny serrated edges on either side, with a tube in the middle of them that the blood is sucked in through. The serrated edges hit the nerves of the skin in less places, making it less painful.

The picture above shows a mosquito injecting its proboscis into human skin without being noticed, and a special medical needle modelled after the proboscis.