Pharmacology of Local Anesthetics

Cocaine, derived from the coca leaf indigenous to South America, was the first drug to be utilized as a topical local anesthetic by Dr. Carl Koller for glaucoma surgery in 1884. Dr. William Stewart Halstead and Dr. Richard John Hall were the first to demonstrate nerve blockade with cocaine for dental surgery later in that same year. Due to the undesirable effects of cocaine, novocaine and subsequent other local anesthetics were developed.