Few things are as unwelcome as a jellyfish sting. Just ask David Pence, Diving Safety Officer at the University of Hawaii. Dave is a keen kayaker. One morning he had finished his paddle and as he headed in, he walked through a small patch of shore line seaweed. When ‘whap’! He felt the familiar unwelcome sting of a tiny blue bottle Man O War.
“When it happened, I simply mechanically removed the tentacle and rinsed the area copiously,” Dave Pence said. “It continued to burn a little, and itch a lot. And in fact four days later I was rubbing the welt when Dr Angel Yanagihara stopped by my office. She asked what was wrong. When I told her what happened she promptly produced a packet of cream.” Dave was amazed that later that day his pain and itching were gone. “This stuff really works!”
Sting No More™ Mil-Spec Plus+ cream is an FDA and FTC compliant over-the-counter first aid topical pharmaceutical grade formulation developed by Dr. Angel Yanagihara. It relieves (most) jellyfish stings and it works on fire ant bites too!
Dr. Angel Yanagihara is a research professor at the University of Hawaii and has been studying the venom of box jellyfish for over 18 years. Her work has been featured in TV documentaries by Nat Geo, Discovery Channel, NOVA, BBC, and CBC. In 2014, the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists named her Scientist of the Year in Hawaii, and her discoveries are the basis for numerous patents and patents pending.
Dr. Yanagihara is also an avid diver and swimmer with firsthand experience of box jelly stings. Her own life-threatening encounter in 1997 prompted her interest in box jelly venoms. “I got stung, and there was no useful treatment,” said Dr. Yanagihara. “So I made it my goal to develop one.”
Sting No MoreTM comes as a rapid-acting spray formulation 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.
Dr. Yanagihara’s Sting No More™ products are in use by military combat divers and have been used by long distance ocean swimmers including Diana Nyad and Jamie Patrick. Sting No More™ is now available to the public at certain dive shops and online.