Review of Lidocaine/Tetracaine Cream as a Topical Anesthetic for Dermatologic Laser Procedures

There are multiple different topical anesthetic options available to minimize the pain associated with cosmetic dermatologic procedures. These options, either alone or in combination, have diverse profiles for effectiveness, ease of use, application time, need for occlusion, and side effects. The lidocaine/tetracaine cream (Pliaglis(®), Galderma Laboratories, Texas, USA), one of the newer combination options, offers effective pain alleviation that has been evaluated in numerous clinical trials. This combination anesthetic is associated with a very favorable profile because of its ease of use and mild side effects compared to other topical local anesthetics. An overview of available topical local anesthetics will be provided with an outline of clinical study characteristics and results regarding the use of lidocaine/tetracaine cream.