What Are the Uses of Lidocaine and Tetracaine?

Lidocaine and tetracaine are both numbing medications for the reduction of pain. Used together or separately in a patch or cream form, the anesthetics can numb skin sensation. This can be useful for medical injections, minor skin operations and before some cosmetic procedures.

Sensations in skin occur because the nerve endings in the skin recognize stimuli such as pain, touch and heat. Lidocaine and tetracaine act on these nerve endings and block them from alerting the brain to pain. When the brain fails to receive pain signals, these sensations are not recognized.

Both of these medications together are suitable for topical application, which means that the drugs work when they touch the skin. As well as a patch form that a patient leaves on the area of skin that will be exposed to pain, the lidocaine and tetracaine are also available as a cream. This cream dries to form a single layer. These products take time to act on the nerves, such as half an hour for the patch form.

As many minor medical procedures involve a small amount of pain, lidocaine and tetracaine can be useful to minimize these feelings. Children, for example, periodically are subject to vaccinations that necessitate an injection. Adults, too, can suffer pain from needle injections, especially if they have to receive repeated injections over a period of time to treat a disease. The area of skin under the product typically has to be undamaged for the medication to be safe to use.

These medications may also benefit patients who suffer from the residual pain of a herpes outbreak, but not for the skin irritation of an active sore. As well as medical uses, the lidocaine and tetracaine topical products are suitable for situations where pain is part of a cosmetic procedure. In these cases, the patient applies the patch or cream before the procedure. Examples of treatments that could be less painful with the anesthetic include laser skin procedures, and injections of cosmetic filler.

Side effects are possible when a patient uses the anesthetic products. On the area under the patch or cream, the skin can turn white or red temporarily. It can also swell up, but this generally passes in a short period of time.

Due to the action of the anesthetics on the nerves, the user can also experience unusual sensations in the treated area of skin. Less often, users develop a rash or irritated skin from the product. Certain medicines can interact with the drugs, such as succinylcholine or heart medication, and increase the risk of side effects.