“Sting No More™” Cream
David Pence, Diving Safety Officer at the University of Hawaii, did not have an auspicious start to his morning.
David is a keen kayaker and can be found regularly paddling the waters of Hawaii. On this occasion as he headed in, he walked through a small patch of seaweed on the shoreline. ‘Whap’! Dave felt the familiar and unwelcome sting of a tiny blue bottle Man O War.
No one likes getting stung by a jellyfish. No matter how many precautions you take - seeking local information, wearing protective clothing and diving defensively - sometimes you can still get stung.
“I treated my sting with basic first aid", said David Pence. "I removed the tentacle and then flushed and rinsed the area copiously with water. Although it continued to burn a little, it itched a lot! Four days later I was rubbing the stung area when Dr Angel Yanagihara happened to drop by my office. She asked what was wrong. When I told her I had been stung, she promptly produced a packet of cream. I was amazed that later that day my pain and itching were gone. This stuff really works!”
The brains behind 'Sting No More' is Dr. Angel Yanagihara. She is an avid diver, swimmer and a research professor at the University of Hawaii. Her passion is jellyfish - she has been studying box jellyfish venom for over 18 years. After getting stung in 1997 and finding there was no useful treatment, Dr. Yanagihara decided to develop one. Her discoveries are the basis for numerous patents and patents pending.
'Sting No More' is an FDA and FTC compliant over-the-counter first aid topical pharmaceutical grade formulation to relieve jellyfish stings, and it can also work on fire ant bites. It comes as a rapid-acting spray that can be used to rinse away remnant tentacles, and a maximum-strength topical cream, which can provide relief from symptoms even days after the sting. The proprietary ingredient formulation is protected by multiple US and international patent filings.
Today Dr. Angel Yanagihara’s Sting No More™ products are in use by military combat divers and long distance ocean swimmers including Diana Nyad and Jamie Patrick. Following their DEMA.2015 debut they are now available to the public, either online, or via certain dive shops.