Toward Less Painful Anesthesia: Water, Saline, and Lidocaine

There are several misconceptions about the best methods of achieving comfortable injections of materials for local anesthesia and other purposes, all based on scant or anecdotal information. A double‐blind study was done to determine the relative comfort and efficacy of distilled water, physiologic saline, and a commercial preparation of lidocaine when administered to attain local anesthesia. Distilled water was found to be most painful upon injection, physiologic saline less so, and the commercial prepartion of lidocaine no more painful than physiologic saline. Onset and depth of anesthesia from each were also assayed. It was concluded that the commercial preparation of lidocaine performed best overall. 1981 American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, Inc.