Trick of the Trade: Topical anesthetic cream for cutaneous abscess drainage in children
Abscess drainage can be painful and time consuming in the ED. Can this article help? 1
Trick of the Trade
Apply a topical anesthetic cream on skin abscesses prior to incision and drainage (I and D).
In this press-released article in American Journal of Emergency Medicine, the authors found that application of a topical 4% lidocaine cream (LMX 4) was associated with spontaneous cutaneous abscess drainage in children.