Comparative Study on Clinical Efficacy of Topical Anesthetic Dermal Products in Iran and its Foreign Standard Cream, EMLA 5%, in Pain Management of Intravenous Blood Sampling on Healthy Volunteers

Background: Using a skin anesthetic can facilitate doing many medical procedures. In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, the anesthetic effect of EMLA cream was evaluated in comparison with lidocaine 5% and benzocaine 5%

Methods: Sixty four healthy volunteers were randomly divided into four groups. One hour before blood sampling, a certain amount of A or B cream was used on the right cubital area and the same amount of C or D cream on the left cubital area. Blood sampling was done via cubital vein with a 2 cc syringe. The pain of blood sampling was recorded using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)

Results: At the end of study, after opening the codes, the EMLA products A and B caused a significant decrease in pain (P < 0.05) in comparison with the products C (lidocaine) and D (benzocaine) while there was no differences between benzocaine and lidocaine. In the current study, no special side effect was observed

Conclusion: The results showed that using EMLA cream as a local anesthetic is superior to lidocaine 5% and benzocaine 5% for pain relief of healthy people blood sampling