Jet Injection of Lidocaine Useful for Small Facial Lacerations in Adults

Jet injection is a painless, needle-free technique that uses high pressure to deliver intramuscular, subcutaneous, or intradermal medications. To study whether this technique can be used to anesthetize skin lacerations prior to suturing, researchers in Iran randomized 53 adult patients with small facial lacerations (no gross contamination or infection) to jet injection or needle administration of lidocaine.

Patients in the needle infiltration group reported more pain during lidocaine administration (mean cores of 4.4 vs. 1.1 on a 10-point scale), but pain during suturing did not differ between groups. Mean time to wound anesthesia was faster in the needle infiltration group (1.7 vs. 3.1 minutes).