Comparison of the Effects of Lidocaine Prilocaine Cream (EMLA) and Lidocaine Injection on Reduction of Perineal Pain During Perineum Repair in Normal Vaginal Delivery

Objective: To compare the efficacy of EMLA cream and lidocaine injection to reduce pain during episiotomy repair.

Materials and methods: A total of 46 primiparous women with normal pregnancy who referred for normal vaginal delivery and needed episiotomy repair were selected and randomly divided into two groups. For EMLA group, one hour before the estimated time of delivery, 5g of EMLA cream was applied to perinealmediolateral incision, and after the delivery of the fetus and placenta, again 5g of EMLA cream was applied to healthy skin around the episiotomy for repair. In the other group, lidocaine 2% was used before episiotomy and for its repair, too.

Results: Only 8 people (19%) were in need of further analgesia. The mean ± SD of pain during repair of episiotomy on the VAS scale in all cases was 4.2 ± 2.3 cm. Most people (97%) were satisfied with their episiotomy repair. Comparing the two groups of EMLA and lidocaine, there was no difference between the two groups in terms of the duration of episiotomy repair, need for further analgesia, pain on the VAS scale, and satisfaction with the repair method.

Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the use of EMLA cream in the site of episiotomy incision in primiparous women can induce a level of analgesia equal to that of lidocaine, and cause a similar level of satisfaction.