Local anesthetics for facial plastic procedures

Local anesthetics for skin grafting and local flaps

In plastic surgery, there are many procedures that can be performed using local instead of general anesthesia. Not only can this help mitigate health care costs, but precious operating-room resources can also be directed to areas of greater need. Common procedures that can be performed under local anesthetics include skin grafts and local flaps. However, as not all patients are suitable for local anesthesia, careful patient selection is necessary to maintain the standard of care. This article describes the detailed surgical approach to using local anesthetics for skin grafts and local flaps.

Anesthetic and procedural sedation techniques for wound management

Emergency physicians come across a wide variety of painful conditions and perform a large number of uncomfortable procedures on a typical shift. This article describes the local anesthetic agents and their potential applications. The peripheral nerve blocks that are regularly done in the emergency department are described. Lastly, procedural sedation and analgesia are covered, to include general principles and specific agents for its use in the emergency department.

Periocular anesthesia in aesthetic surgery

This article focuses on the administration of anesthesia for periocular aesthetic procedures. Special emphasis is given to office-based procedures, most often without any systemic sedation, highlighting the importance of open communication with patients. Finally, attention is given to potential pitfalls including anesthetic systemic toxicity, ocular injuries, and orbicularis myotoxicity.

Local Anesthetics and Peripheral Nerve Blocks in the Emergency Department

The emergency physician has a variety of options for providing effective pain relief. A solid understanding of the local anesthetic agents and regional anesthetic techniques is an essential component of every emergency physician's analgesia armamentarium.

EMLA and Ear Surgery: Is It Possible to Achieve Full-Thickness Anesthesia With EMLA?

BACKGROUND

Topical local anesthetic applications offer painless, effective analgesia with slow onset but prolonged duration and minimal side effects. EMLA (Eczacibasi Pharmaceuticals, Istanbul, Turkey) is the most universally used topical local anesthetic.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this prospective, randomized, double-blind study is to evaluate the efficacy of EMLA on total anesthesia of the external ear.

METHODS

Twenty-two patients with helical lesions were divided into two groups. Group A received EMLA on both the anterior and posterior surfaces of the ear, and group B received EMLA on only one side of the ear. After 120 minutes of occlusive dressing, the surgery was performed. The short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire and a numerical visual analog scale were used to measure overall pain quality and intensity during and at the end of surgery.

RESULTS

Visual analog scale scores (four for group A and six for group B6) between two groups using Student's t-test (p=0210) and concerning McGill Pain Questionnaire scores with Wilcoxon signed ranks test (p=0.058) between two groups showed no statistical significant difference.

CONCLUSION

It seems that EMLA cream is not a good and first option for achieving full anesthesia on the ear because of its poor anesthetic effect. We do not consider EMLA cream to be clinically useful for major surgical attempt on the ear.