Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine if skin cooling decreases the pain duringbotulinum toxin A injections in essential blepharospasm .
Methods: :
It was performed a prospective, randomized and single blind study. All 25 patients had essential blepharospasm clinical diagnosis. Ice was applied to the patient skin in a plastic bag five minutes before botulinum toxin-A (Botox ®, Allergan) injections and the application side was randomically chosen. The pain was evaluated after the application by using a visual analog scale (VAS).
Results: :
The average VAS values defining the pain intensity were 3.1 on the treatment group and 4.7 on the control group. The statistical analysis indicated that pain is significantly reduced on the side where ice was applied.
Conclusions: :
Ice application showed to be an inexpensive, harmless and effective alternative to reduce pain before BTX - A injections.