Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25606486›Full record

ArticleArchives of plastic surgery2015

Topical EMLA Cream as a Pretreatment for Facial Lacerations.

Sung Woo Park, Tae Suk Oh, Jong Woo Choi, Jin Sup Eom, Joon Pio Hong, Kyung S Koh, Taik Jong Lee, Eun Key Kim

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Archives of plastic surgery, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 21% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Topical anaesthetics for pain control during repair of dermal laceration.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Anesthesia for office-based facial plastic surgery procedures.World journal of otorhinolaryngology - head and neck surgery · 2023
    Review
  4. Review
  5. Updates in emergency department laceration management.Clinical and experimental emergency medicine · 2019
    Article
  6. Local anesthesia and anxiolytic techniques for oculoplastic surgery.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2019
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Sung Woo ParkDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Tae Suk OhDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jong Woo ChoiDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jin Sup EomDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Joon Pio HongDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kyung S KohDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Taik Jong LeeDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Eun Key KimDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Asan Medical Center · KRUlsan College · KR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTopical anesthetics, such as eutectic mixture of local anesthetics (EMLA) cream, can be applied to reduce pain before minor procedure. This trial evaluated EMLA as pretreatment for facial lacerations and compared pain, discomfort and overall satisfaction.

methodsThis trial included consecutive emergency department patients ≥16 years of age who presented with simple facial lacerations. At triage, lacerations were allotted to either the routine processing group or EMLA pretreatment group according to date of admission. Initially, the emergency department doctors inspected each laceration, which were dressed with saline-soaked gauze. In the pretreatment group, EMLA cream was applied during wound inspection. The plastic surgeon then completed primary closure following the local injection of an anesthetic. After the procedure, all patients were given a questionnaire assessing pain using the 10-point visual analog scale (VAS) ("no pain" to "worst pain"). All questionnaires were collected by the emergency department nurse before discharge.

resultsFifty patients were included in the routine processing group, and fifty patients were included in the EMLA pretreatment group. Median age was 39.9 years, 66% were male, and the average laceration was 2.67 cm in length. The EMLA pretreatment group reported lower pain scores in comparison with the routine processing group (2.4 vs. 4.5 on VAS, P<0.05), and lower discomfort scores during the procedure (2.0 vs. 3.3, P=0.60). Overall satisfaction was significantly higher in the EMLA pretreatment group (7.8 vs. 6.1, P<0.05).

conclusionsPretreating facial lacerations with EMLA topical cream aids patients by reducing pain and further enhancing overall satisfaction during laceration treatment.

Indexed as

Anesthetics, localEMLALacerations

Identifiers

PMID25606486
PMCPMC4297802
OpenAlexW2048383655

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.