TOPICAL ANESTHESIA DURING INFANT EYE EXAMINATIONS - DOES IT REDUCE STRESS

We studied the effect of topical anesthesia on infant stress and corne al haze during the routine eye examination for retinopathy of prematur ity. Using a double-blind protocol, 55 premature infants weighing less than 1501 g at birth were selected randomly to receive normal saline or proparacaine HCl 0.5% eye drops as a corneal wetting agent at their initial eye examination. Before, during, and after the procedure, inf ant stress was evaluated by heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressu re, and transcutaneous oxygen saturation. Subjective assessment of the infant's cry intensity and corneal haze also were recorded. Adequate data were collected on 42 patients. Using analysis of variance and chi -square tests, we found no difference in any of these parameters betwe en the two patient groups. These data suggest that topical anesthetic agents offer no advantage over normal saline eye drops during the exam ination of premature infants.