Topical anaesthesia as an adjuvant to local anaesthetic injection in open trigger digit release: a randomized controlled trial.

We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare pain scores and patient satisfaction between topical anaesthetic cream (5% lidocaine-prilocaine cream) versus placebo cream, applied approximately 90 minutes before local anaesthetic injection for open trigger digit release. One hundred participants were enrolled and randomly allocated into the two groups between May 2019 and February 2020. The visual analogue pain scores and satisfaction scores were measured. Most participants were female with Quinnell Grade 2-3 trigger digits. The pain scores during needle injection, local anaesthetic infiltration, the overall pain and satisfaction scores had no statistically significant differences between groups. There was no correlation between duration of topical anaesthetic drug application and pain scores. Subgroup analysis did not show significant differences in pain scores between genders. No complications were found during the study period. The topical anaesthetic drug was ineffective to use on the palmar skin during open trigger digit release surgery.Level of evidence: II.