REPETITIVE PINCHING OF THE SKIN DURING LIDOCAINE INFILTRATION REDUCESPATIENT DISCOMFORT

Background: The administration of a local anesthetic is often painful. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether rapidly shaking and pinching the skin during local anesthetic administration decreases pain perception. Methods: The skin at the intended site of l idocaine injection was rapidly pinched between the thumb and forefinge r just before the injection. Control patients received no intervention . Patients reported their pain perception using a visual analog scale (0 to 10). In the feasibility phase, patients were assigned to receive the pinching technique or no intervention, then randomized in the sec ond phase. Results: In phase 1, 34 patients received 42 excisions. Pai n was significantly reduced (p = 0.001) in the treatment group. In pha se 2, 69 patients had 91 excisions. When adjusted for age and sex (dat a combined from phases 1 and 2), the treatment significantly reduced p ain (p = 0.03) when compared with no intervention. Conclusion: We desc ribe a simple, noninvasive technique that significantly lowered percei ved pain during the administration of unbuffered lidocaine with epinep hrine local anesthetic.