Use anesthetic drops to relieve acute otitis media pain
- PMID: 18544320
- PMCID: PMC3183864
Use anesthetic drops to relieve acute otitis media pain
Abstract
A mother brings her 3-year-old son to your office first thing in the morning. The boy has fever and right ear pain. You see that the tympanic membrane is dull, red, and bulging. The mother has been up most of the night with her child. She implores you to "do something." She is exhausted and her son is crying and holding his right ear. You know that antibiotics will not provide immediate pain relief and oral analgesics will take a while to help. What can you offer that will help right away? Use 3 drops of topical 2% lidocaine drops or benzocaine to provide rapid pain relief for children with acute otitis media.
Comment on
-
Topical lignocaine for pain relief in acute otitis media: results of a double-blind placebo-controlled randomised trial.Arch Dis Child. 2008 Jan;93(1):40-4. doi: 10.1136/adc.2006.110429. Arch Dis Child. 2008. PMID: 18156478 Clinical Trial.
References
-
- Bolt P, Barnett P, Babl FE, Sharwood LN. Topical lignocaine for pain relief in acute otitis media: results of a double-blind placebo-controlled randomised trial. Arch Dis Child. 2008;93:40–44.. - PubMed
-
- Teele DW, Klein JO, Rosner B. Epidemiology of otitis media during the first seven years of life in children in greater Boston: a prospective, cohort study. J Infect Dis. 1989;160:83–94.. - PubMed
-
- Arnold J. Otitis media and its complications. In: Nelson W, Behrman R, Kliegman R, Arvin A, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 15th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1996:1814-1824.
-
- Chan LS, Takata GS, Shekelle P, Morton SC, Mason W, Marcy SM. Evidence assessment of management of acute otitis media: II. Research gaps and priorities for future research. Pediatrics. 2001;108:248–254.. - PubMed
-
- Glasziou PP, Del Mar CB, Sanders SL, Hayem M. Antibiotics for acute otitis media in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(1):CD000219.. - PubMed
