Lidocaine Versus Diphenhydramine to Achieve Local Anesthesia for Laceration Repairs

Recruiting now · Phase 3

Conditions studied: Laceration of Skin

In brief

Diphenhydramine, when injected locally, has been shown to achieve a certain level of local anesthesia. It has been documented for use in simple bedside procedures, however there is a gap in knowledge in its comparison to lidocaine. The purpose of the study is to determine if local infiltration of diphenhydramine is noninferior to the use of lidocaine 1% when trying to achieve local anesthesia for simple laceration repair. Patients who present to the emergency department with a simple laceration will be enrolled in the study. Patients will be evaluated for the pain of the injection as well as the pain of the laceration repair procedure post injection.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT06910241

Run by

Florida Atlantic University

People needed

100

Starts

2025-09-03

Expected to finish

2028-06-30

Last updated by the study team

2026-01-07

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Lacerations requiring one layer of sutures
• Lacerations appropriate for repair by emergency physicians

You may not qualify if…

• Active bleeding from laceration
• Complex lacerations requiring multiple layers
• Lacerations to be repaired by a specialist service
• Patients with allergies to either diphenhydramine or lidocaine
• Laceration repairs would benefit from the use of epinephrine as an additive to the local anesthetic

Where it is running

• Bethesda Hospital East — Boynton Beach, Florida, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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