Occurrence of Bruise, Hematoma, and Pain in Upper Blepharoplasty Using Blunt-Needle vs Sharp-Needle Anesthetic Injection in Upper Blepharoplasty: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

[IMPORTANCE] Though it has been a common practice to use sharp needles to administer local anesthesia for upper blepharoplasty, the evidence for their benefit is lacking.

[OBJECTIVE] To evaluate whether there is any benefit of using blunt-needle injection for local anesthesia when performing upper blepharoplasty to reduce postoperative bruise, hematoma, and pain.

[DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS] Randomized clinical trial of 44 patients who underwent bilateral upper blepharoplasty in an academic medical setting were randomized to receive local anesthesia injections (lidocaine, 2%; 27-gauge needle) with a blunt needle in one eyelid and a sharp needle in the other eyelid.

[MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES] Visual analog scale (VAS) score of 0 to 10 (lower score indicating lower level of pain) was used to blindly assess pain in patients receiving anesthesia injections with both needle types. After injection and skin incision, photographs of the eyelids of each patient were taken and used by 2 blinded observers to identify bruise or hematoma.

[RESULTS] In the 44 patients (88 eyelids) included in the study (all women; mean age, 31 years; age range, 18-56 years) bruise or hematoma occurred at the sharp-needle injection site in 11 women (25%) vs 0 women at the blunt-needle site (P < .001). The mean VAS scores were 5.48 and 4.64 for pain assessed at sites of sharp- and blunt-needle injections, respectively (P = .002).

[CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE] Use of blunt needles to administer local anesthesia when performing upper blepharoplasty is less likely to cause hemorrhage and require interventional pain procedures than use of sharp needles. Therefore, for a more accurate surgical procedure and faster recovery, a blunt needle may be a preferable choice. The use of the blunt needle presents fewer complications and allows more accurate and refined work with faster patient recovery.

[LEVEL OF EVIDENCE] 1.

[TRIAL REGISTRATION] Chinese Clinical Trial Registry identifier: ChiCTR-ONC-16007979.