Enabling Value-Based Healthcare Through Simple Options Like Using Topical Cream For Facemask Comfort; Olumuyiwa Bamgbade

Value-based healthcare can be enabled by simple innovations like facial topical creams to promote facemask compliance. Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, Salem Pain Clinic

SURREY, BC, CANADA, July 10, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- During the COVID-19 pandemic, personal protective equipment (PPE) was essential to public health and clinical care. However, prolonged facemask use often causes discomfort and skin issues, undermining compliance among healthcare workers and patients. A clinical study offered a compelling solution: applying low-cost topical facial creams to mitigate mask-related irritation and boost user adherence. This simple intervention holds powerful implications for value-based healthcare (VBHC), a model that rewards outcomes and cost-effectiveness rather than volume of services. Dr. Olumuyiwa Bamgbade led the peer-reviewed study at the specialized Salem Anaesthesia Pain Clinic.

The study demonstrated that creams such as lidocaine gel, hydrocortisone, zinc oxide, and petrolatum significantly improved facial comfort, reduced redness and pain, and enhanced mask-wearing compliance. Lidocaine gel showed the highest effectiveness in reducing discomfort and increasing user satisfaction. These effects were achieved at minimal cost, especially compared to more expensive alternatives like hydrogel pads or foam dressings. From a VBHC perspective, this exemplifies a high-value intervention: low cost, non-invasive, easy to implement, and directly improving clinical and behavioral outcomes.

VBHC emphasizes clinical success, patient experience, and operational efficiency. Facemask non-compliance may cause increased disease transmission, avoidable infections, staff shortages, and systemic strain, all degrade value. By increasing comfort and adherence, topical creams act as enablers of public health protocols, enhancing personal safety and system-wide resilience. The intervention also reduces the burden on dermatology services and occupational health departments, which would otherwise address mask-induced dermatitis or pressure injuries.

The study provides a model for integrating patient-centered innovations into routine care. Rather than mandating compliance through punitive or top-down policies, the use of creams respects individual comfort and autonomy, aligning with the VBHC goal of improving health through dignified, respectful care. It also aligns with preventive strategies that prioritize upstream interventions over downstream complications.

For policy-makers and healthcare administrators, this research underscores the importance of frontline feedback, evidence-based experimentation, and scalability in achieving value. Topical creams could be extended to areas where device-related discomfort compromises compliance, such as oxygen masks, CPAP interfaces, or prosthetics. This kind of practical innovation is desirable and essential in resource-constrained settings, where cost-effectiveness is paramount. To truly implement value-based healthcare, we must recognize and support grassroots innovations that make care more human, effective, and sustainable.

Dr. Bamgbade is a healthcare leader with an interest in value-based healthcare delivery. He is a specialist physician trained in Nigeria, Britain, the USA, and South Korea. He is an adjunct professor at institutions in Africa, Europe, and North America. He has collaborated with researchers in Nigeria, Iran, Armenia, Zambia, China, Rwanda, the USA, Kenya, South Africa, Britain, Tanzania, Namibia, Australia, Botswana, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Jamaica, and Canada. He has published 45 scientific papers in PubMed-indexed journals. He is the director of Salem Pain Clinic, a specialist and research clinic in Surrey, BC, Canada. Dr Bamgbade and Salem Pain Clinic focus on researching and managing pain, insomnia, value-based care, health equity, injury rehabilitation, neuropathy, societal safety, substance misuse, medical sociology, public health, medicolegal science, and perioperative care.

Reference
Bamgbade OA, Richards RN, Mwaba M, Ajirenike RN, Metekia LM, Olatunji BT. Facial topical cream promotes facemask tolerability and compliance during COVID-19 pandemic. J Taibah Univ Med Sci. 2022;17(3):441-447.

Olumuyiwa Bamgbade
Salem Anaesthesia Pain Clinic
+1 778-628-6600
salem.painclinic@gmail.com
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