Topical 2% lidocaine gel versus placebo in burn wound debridement pain

This prospective, randomized, double blind study compared the effectiveness of topical 2% lidocaine gel versus placebo in the reduction of burn wound debridement pain. Each of the 19 patients in this study acted as his/her own control by having his/her burn wound debrided four times; twice with lidocaine and twice with placebo. Topical 2% lidocaine gel was found to be superior to placebo in decreasing the pain of burn wound debridement (P=0.0048 at a 1% level of significance).