Health doctors can now do more procedures in the office but often times, because of the sedation involved, patients need a ride home and some need a ride to the procedure because they take medication for anxiety beforehand. A local doctor has figured out a way for men to come and go on their own and still will be pain-free.

Reporter Mike Farris explains. Gary Hemel was having a problem very common to older men.

Patient : You can’t sleep through the night you get up you know three and four times

His benign and large prostate was causing urination problems then he saw a quick easy office procedure on medical watch that could fix it so he turned to urologist Dr. Neil Baum for the Urolift but for Gary the procedure was easier because there would be no needles in the sensitive male area for local anesthesia or long lasting IV sedation.

Dr Neil Baum: it is absolutely remarkable you know how they can get through these procedures without any pain

It started when Dr. Baum went to the dentist for procedure and had something dentists have been using since 1844 for nitrous oxide or laughing gas and he thought he could use that too for vasectomies prostate bladder and skin procedures.

Dr Neil Baum: It reduces anxiety it reduces pain and discomfort and it provides light sedation the beauty is that once the gas is turned off 30 seconds later the patient sits up stands up and walks out of the office

Dr. Baum checked with the State Board of Medical Examiner’s about using the gas for anesthesia he says it’s safe and in 150 patients there have been no side effects patients can respond to commands and are still getting the same amount of oxygen as normal breathing. Gary remembers nothing about his procedure

Patient: When he turned it on and I just didn’t feel a thing after that

This is a game changer there are going to be offices now all over the community and region they’re going to be doing this

Now this is also good for people who have had addiction illness and can’t have narcotics the only patients who can’t use nitrous oxide or people with COPD those who have had recent cataract surgery or pregnant women in the first trimester now insurance does pay for those procedures but not the laughing gas but Dr. Baum says the cost is very minimal.