I've gotten shit a lot worse than some heat therapy gel in my eyes before. And yeah it's probably as bad as you're thinking.
I'd rather two minutes in a cold chamber than an hour of someone digging into my muscles with pointy elbows. Fuck, there was this one massage therapist in Germany I'd go to and I swear to god she just used sticks instead of her hands. Worked like a fucking charm, but it was agony.