Types of Anesthetic Eye Drops and Injections

Purpose of Anesthetic Eye Drops

An anesthetic is a type of medication that numbs a portion of the body for a certain amount of time.

These medications are frequently used by eye doctors for in office testing procedures and for minor surgical procedures.

Anesthetics numb the treated area to touch and pain sensations.

How Numbing Eye Drops Work

The mechanism behind most anesthetics used by eye doctors is preventing nerve cells, which typically transmit pain and touch, from working for a period of time while the drug is in the area.

These medications are limited to affecting the parts of the body which they can reach by injection or as an eye drop.

Since these anesthetics do not have an affect on the entire body, you will not be “put to sleep” or go under complete anesthesia when using these medications.

Types of Anesthetic Eye Drops

Anesthetic medications can come in the form of eye drops which are administered by an eye doctor in office.

These drops often contain proparacaine, tetracaine, or benoxinate. All of these medications will have a numbing affect on the front of the eye.

What are Numbing Drops Used For?

Anesthetic eye drops are among the most commonly used in an optometric office. These medications are used in routine testing as well as for additional tests and procedures.

The most common use of an anesthetic eye drop is to check the pressure of your eyes with an instrument known as the Goldmann Tonometer.

This instrument will come into contact with the cornea on the front of the eye and an anesthetic eye drop is used before the procedure to numb the cornea. These anesthetic drops are often mixed with a dye that is instilled at the same time.

Another common use of anesthetic eye drops is to relieve pain from a foreign object on the eye and to numb the eye for the removal of an object.

Typically, any foreign object in the eye will cause some irritation but if the object remains in the eye the pain can be quite extreme.

An anesthetic eye drop can alleviate this pain and allow an eye doctor to remove the object safely without any additional pain.

Types of Anesthetic Eye Injections

Another common form of anesthetic medication is an injection beneath the skin or beneath the outer portion of the eye, the conjunctiva.

Two of the most common injected anesthetic medications are lidocaine and bupivacaine.

Each of these medications can come with or without epinephrine in the injection.

Uses for Anesthetic Eye Injections

Injections of anesthetic medications are almost exclusively used in preparation for a surgical procedure on or around the eye.

These procedures may include removing a skin tag, cutting and draining a stye, or removing a cyst from the eye or around the eye.

In these surgical procedures, an anesthetic injection is used before to numb the entire region that will be operated on in the surgery.

While these procedures are often done in office, the procedures require more numbing and are not isolated to the front of the eye, thus requiring an injection instead of a drop.