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ABSTRACT: Determine if raising the pH of 2% lidocaine with epinephrine 1:100 000 to a physiologic level decreases pain perception during periocular, subcutaneous anesthesia.
Double-blind, prospective, randomized study. Simultaneous unilateral injections of buffered and unbuffered lidocaine solutions were given before surgery to patients having bilateral, periocular surgery.
Fifty-four consecutive patients (27 male and 27 female; mean age, 68 years; standard deviation, 11 years).
Patients were given simultaneous injections of buffered and unbuffered 2% lidocaine with epinephrine 1:100 000. The needles were inserted simultaneously and the anesthesia was injected for a 20-second count for a total volume of 1.0 ml per injected side.
After the simultaneous injections, the patients were asked to rate the pain on each side on a Likert-type visual analog scale of 0 to 10.
Sixty-five percent of patients preferred the buffered lidocaine with a scaled pain reduction of 0.9 (P = 0.0005). Additionally, for the patients who believed that the buffered solution was less painful, the mean decrease in scaled pain rating was 2, for a 51% reduction in pain level (P = 0.001). No gender differences were noted.
Buffering 2% lidocaine with epinephrine 1:100 000 with sodium bicarbonate 8.4% offers a clinically and statistically significant reduction in pain experienced by two-thirds of patients receiving periocular subcutaneous anesthesia.
The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
Ophthalmology 07/2012; 119(10):2048-52. · 5.45 Impact Factor
