Efficacy of erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser-assisted delivery of topical anesthetic

Abstract

Background: Penetration through the stratum corneum limits effectiveness of topical anesthetics.

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of 5% lidocaine (ELA-Max) cream applied after erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) laser ablation of the stratum corneum.

Methods: Randomized, controlled, split-face comparison of anesthesia was performed on 12 volunteers. The stratum corneum was painlessly ablated with a low-fluence Er:YAG laser on half of the face, then the whole face was covered with ELA-Max cream for 60 minutes. Full-face laser resurfacing was performed, and visual analog pain scores (0 to 10) were recorded during each of 2 passes.

Results: Laser-assisted topical anesthesia demonstrated significantly lower mean pain scores than topical anesthesia alone. This was more pronounced during the more painful second pass. Resurfacing after laser-assisted topical anesthesia was well tolerated by 72% of subjects in pass 1 and 58% in pass 2.

Conclusion: Laser-assisted topical anesthesia is fast, painless, and substantially more effective than conventional topical anesthesia but does not provide adequate anesthesia for full-face resurfacing in all subjects.