Dilution of proparacaine in balanced salt solution reduces pain of anesthetic instillation in the eye.

Background And Objectives: Proparacaine (P), 0.5%, is often applied topically to the eye to diminish the pain of injection of anesthetic for eye surgery; however, application of 0.5% P itself can cause some degree of discomfort.

Periocular local anesthesia: medial orbital as an alternative to superior nasal injection.

We developed a new technique, the medial orbital pericone local anesthetic block, that surgeons can use a secondary block when inferotemporal retrobulbar or peribulbar/periocular injection of local anesthetics results in incomplete anesthesia. Unlike secondary local injections placed in the superonasal quadrant of the orbit, our technique injects the anesthetic into the fat compartment of the nasal side of the globe, a site that is relatively avascular and lacks vital anatomic structures. In more than 15,000 patients, this method proved an effective, safe means of secondary block and promoted orbicularis oculi muscle akinesia.

Diluting lidocaine and mepivacaine in balanced salt solution reduces the pain of intradermal injection.

Background And Objectives: Intradermal injection of local anesthetics prior to percutaneous needle insertion is often painful. This study evaluated the effect of diluting lidocaine and mepivacaine with balanced salt solution on perception of pain on intradermal injection.

Methods: Twenty healthy volunteers were each intradermally injected with six solutions in random order.

Factitious illness in gynecology.

Factitious or self-induced illness has rarely been mentioned in gynecologic literature. Described herein are 4 nonpregnant women, 3 of whom had vaginal bleeding of unknown origin and 1 who had recurrent fevers and an acute abdomen. In gynecologic practice, factitious illness should be suspected whenever a patient presents with a protracted illness that has eluded diagnosis.