Topical anesthesia in cosmetic dermatological procedures

• Main Author: Jacek Zdybski (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Our Dermatology Online, 2018-07-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

Background: Rapid increase in demand for fast, effective and painless cosmetic procedures has inspired the pursue for the ideal method of anesthesia. The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of different types of topical anesthetics most commonly utilized in dermatological procedures: EMLA cream, BLT cream, infraorbital nerve blocks with 2% lidocaine with epinephrine. Material and Methods: The study involved 12 patients with scheduled painful dermatological procedures intended to improve their facial and neck skin. Pain intensity was measured using 0-10 numeric scale (10 being the worst imaginable pain and 0 no pain). Patients were asked to assess their pain levels during fractionated CO2 laser treatment of the face. Results: Results demonstrated that patients subjected to treatment with the use of anesthetic EMLA and BLT creams still feel a considerable level of pain during the performed dermocosmetic procedures. Similar pain level concerned the group anesthetized with the infraorbital nerve block injection. Conclusion: Finding the ideal topical anesthetic is one of the greatest challenges of present-day cosmetic dermatology. The most desired method of anesthesia in this context would have to be easy to apply, display high clinical effectiveness over a short time period, be able to exert numbing effect on intact skin without systemic effects, cause nominal pain or discomfort during treatment with minimal to no side effects. According to the results of the reported study, the most effective method of anesthesia was proved to be the triple anesthesia involving of a combination of a painkiller drug, EMLA cream and infraorbital nerve block.

Item Description

2081-9390