What is Emla Creme?
Emla Creme is a local anaesthetic, i.e. a means of local suppression of pain. It is used, for example, before certain medical procedures on the skin. Emla Creme contains the active ingredients lidocaine and prilocaine. Both active ingredients have a numbing effect on nerves. As a result, after applying Emla Creme there should be local insensitivity, i.e. limited to the area of application.
Interaction
Emla Creme can interact especially with other medicines with a similar effect. These include above all other local anaesthetics. It is possible that Emla Creme also intensifies undesirable effects of such a drug.
The same applies to drugs that may have an effect on the metabolism of the active ingredients contained in Emla Creme. Some beta blockers, for example, belong to this group. Even though Emla Creme is normally well tolerated due to its local mode of action, a specialist should be consulted in case of doubt. If in doubt, a doctor or pharmacist should always be consulted.
Fields of application
Emla Creme can be used for local anesthesia of the skin before minor medical procedures such as blood sampling. It can also be applied before surgical operations that only affect the skin surface to relieve pain. Even the sensitive mucous membrane of the genital area can be anaesthetized in this way before such an operation, as long as the operation is limited to the mucous membrane surface.
In the genital area, the cream is also used to numb the skin before another local anesthetic is injected into deeper layers. Because of its analgesic effect, Emla cream is sometimes also recommended for tattooing. However, Emla Creme has not been developed for this use, or was not intended for this purpose by the manufacturer.
There is also criticism that the cream can cause the skin to swell and thus affect the quality of the tattoo. Particular care should be taken that nothing speaks against the use of the cream, or that it should not be given for medical reasons. This is the case, for example, if there is a hypersensitivity to one of the ingredients.
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