Anesthesia for lasers

Abstract

Among the most frequent procedures performed by dermatologists, patients consider that treatments involving laser and lights cause moderate to severe pain. One of the patient's main concerns about laser procedures is pain and discomfort, especially for the first time patient. In order to reduce the sensation of pain, distress, and patient's anxiety level, anesthesia can be applied before laser treatments. Local anesthesia (topical anesthesia or local anesthetic injection), nerve blocks, oral sedation with a benzodiazepine and/or intravenous anesthesia can be applied prior to the procedure. The most widely used type of anesthesia for laser procedures is topical anesthesia, associated or not with ice. Topical anesthetics available on the market and approved by the FDA have been proven to be safe and effective for the majority of the laser procedures, even for infants and young kids where extra caution is required.