Emla Cream (Lignocaine and Prilocaine)

Emla Cream (Lignocaine and Prilocaine) used

Emla Cream (Lignocaine and Prilocaine) is used as a topical local anaesthetic to provide analgesia (pain relief) to a local area of skin for certain minor surgical procedure. These include, needle insertion, such as taking blood samples or applying intravenous catheters; cleaning leg ulcers; superficial surgical procedures like split skin grafting and superficial surgery involving genital skin. When applied to the skin prior to the procedure, Emla Cream (Lignocaine and Prilocaine) provides effective analgesia throughout the procedure, which continues for some time after.

Emla Cream (Lignocaine and Prilocaine) work

Emla Cream (Lignocaine and Prilocaine) contains a combination in equal amounts of two anaesthetics, lignocaine and prilocaine. These anaesthetics are both amino amides that act directly on nerve endings in the skin to block the generation and transmission of specific nerve impulses in a defined area, and this provides reversible loss of sensation in the superficial pain receptors. Lignocaine and prilocaine in Emla Cream (Lignocaine and Prilocaine) work by stabilising the membranes of nerve cells by blocking the influx of sodium ions through voltage-gated sodium channels in the cell membranes and this inhibits the generation of a nerve impulse and its transmission to the brain, which means that no sensation of pain will be received by the pain receptors, although other sensations such as pressure may still be perceived. Emla Cream (Lignocaine and Prilocaine) is absorbed through the layers of the skin reaching the nerve endings and pain receptors, where they work together to numb the area of skin before a potentially painful procedure such an injection.