The Effect of Temperature on the Discomfort Caused by Topical Local Anaesthesia

The warming of local anaesthetic solutions to reduce the pain felt on injection is common practice in a number of medical sub-specialties. A study was undertaken to assess the effect of temperature on the discomfort caused by local anaesthetic eye drops. Tropical anaesthetics amethocaine 1%, oxybupr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 1995-12, Vol.88 (12), p.709P-711P
Main Author: Callear, A B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Anesthesia
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Anesthetics, Local - administration & dosage
Anesthetics, Local - adverse effects
Biological and medical sciences
Humans
Lidocaine - administration & dosage
Lidocaine - adverse effects
Local anesthesia. Pain (treatment)
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Pain - prevention & control
Pain Measurement
Procaine - administration & dosage
Procaine - adverse effects
Procaine - analogs & derivatives
Temperature
Tetracaine - administration & dosage
Tetracaine - adverse effects
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Summary:The warming of local anaesthetic solutions to reduce the pain felt on injection is common practice in a number of medical sub-specialties. A study was undertaken to assess the effect of temperature on the discomfort caused by local anaesthetic eye drops. Tropical anaesthetics amethocaine 1%, oxybuprocaine 0.4% and lignocaine 4% were studied, and after the application of strict exclusion criteria 60 patients were selected, 20 patients for each anaesthetic. Each patient group received a topical anaesthetic at 42 C in one eye and at room temperature in the other. A 10 point visual analogue scale was used to assess the discomfort experienced. No statistically significant difference was found between the discomfort caused by drops at each temperature for any of the three anaesthetics studied. There appears no benefit in warming topical anaesthetic agents prior to their use.
ISSN:0141-0768
1758-1095
DOI:10.1177/014107689508801221