I recently started monthly eyelea injections in June 2020 (3 so far). My doctor injects the anesthetic before eyelea. When I asked for anesthetic drops she said that due to the pandemic the practice is clearing and sanitizing rooms at a faster pace. Somehow this is not a good reason for me to endure 2 shots/eye!
She also mentioned the anesthetic shot provides better pain relief. I experience a lot of pain, I can’t imagine what it would be otherwise. I’m in the process of finding a second opinion from another ophthalmologist.
Anyone have a similar experience?
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Moptart
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I attend an NHS eye clinic. I too have extra strong anaesthetic drops prior to my injection. Some people are more sensitive to pain than others. I have had 3 injections during the pandemic, since March, and am still treated with the drops.
The drops numb the surface of eye. The anesthetic injection only goes into the white of the eye and is required to numb the rest of the eyeball prior to the intravitreal injection. My doc uses both. The anesthetic injection is absolutely necessary to prevent pain during intravitreal injection. Are you sure that they are not also using anesthetic drops?
Hi Moptart. The anesthetic drops last a while. Not sure exactly how long. The real test is if you can feel the anesthetic injection. I also receive the numbing drops for initial pressure tests. I then receive several drops of anesthetic prior to the procedure. They then wait several minutes before the anesthetic injection. On each occasion, I can feel a bit of a sting during the anesthetic injection. Nothing painful but a sting. The Avastin injection is painless.
Thank you to all who responded! I’m in San Francisco, Ca.
Since I’m new injections, I was curious to how much “worse” could discomfort be with drops vs shot.
I feel both shots and I have discomfort for a day following, with soreness where the anesthesia shot went in for up to a week. Plus, I experience subconjunctival hemorrhages lasting from a few days to 2 month!
The doctor never gave me the option to experience both.
Please change your practitioner. With an experienced one there is no pain. The subconjunctival injection has always been pain free for me. I have had 34 eyelea injections with both methods. Re pain, I prefer the 2 painless injections.
I live between England and Belgium. In Belgium I have two injections and both are totally pain free. In Oxford I have one with the anaesthetic drops and there is some pain on injection.
Another difference which affects me is that Betadine is used instead of the iodine, to which I am allergic, used in Oxford. Protocols vary between practitioners so please check other practices.
I'm in the USA. In PA. I spend 6 months in PA & 6 months in FL, so I have 2 Retina Specialists - one in each state. I get an Eylea shot in my right eye every 7 to 8 weeks.
The FL doctor only uses anesthetic drops. He puts the drops in, 5 minutes later he puts the drops in again, and then 5 to 8 minutes later he puts the drops in again & about 2 minutes later he administers the Betadine and then does the injection. This procedure has been very good for me with little to no pain when getting the shot & a quick recovery if there is the slight pain.
My PA Retina Specialist has used 3 anesthetic methods on me over the past 3 years. At first he was using the drops in 3 doses 5 minutes apart like the other doctor & things were great just like in FL. However, his supply of anesthetic drops ran out & he said there was a shortage of the drops so he could not get any delivered for a while. So he switch to an anesthetic gel. Though he applied 3 doses, the gel did not work as well as the drops & I felt pain and afterward had pain for most of the day. Next visit he still had not gotten a delivery of drops & I told him I did not like the gel, so he gave me the anesthetic shot before the Eylea shot. That was even worse than the gel as far as pain & discomfort after the two injections. Next visit he went back to the gel & I was not happy at all. Next visit after that he went back to the anesthetic shot and that again was worse than the gel. Finally he got in his shipment of anesthetic drops and, following his procedure of administering the drops 3 times at 5 minutes apart before giving me the Eylea shot, the Eylea injection was just about pain free with very little pain afterwards that totally went away after about 1 hour. So now I am happy again.
Summary - for me the anesthetic shot followed by the Eylea shot was horrible. 3 doses of the anesthetic gel followed by the Eylea shot was bad. The 3 doses of the anesthetic drops followed by the Eylea shot gave the best results & I continue to have the doctors in both locations use the drops.
I've been having monthly inj throughout the pandemic, nothing had changed as far as injections go, they clean area with iodine , I have plenty of anaesthetic drops before and 1 drop of iodine ..no pain with inj x
I too have anaesthetic drops before Eyelea injection. I'd have thought administering drops would be so much quicker, and as someone has already mentioned, limit the trauma and possible risks, to your eye.
When I have ozurdex implant I get anaesthetic drops then anaesthetic inj. Dont feel the anaesthetic injection. Then I get the implant, dont feel that either, maybe a dull push, at least not as painful as my years of antivegf inj were.
However, i believe the antivegf inj are usually given using a "guide" that's part of the injection instrument, the anaesthetic shot is freehand. That might dictate whether only doctors can give it.
That makes sense to me - I’ve never encountered anaesthetic injections, surely the point of drops is that they go in before either needles or retractors? I’ve had 2 pandemic injections, both the usual anaesthetic drops
An certainly relate to the severe pain but drops do nothing for me. Sounds like your doc is at least trying to find a solution. All the best. I know it’s hard.
i receive extra numbing drops before an injection but still have a lot of pain after i called my dr before my last injection and asked for extra numbing AFTER my injection it helped like you wouldn't believe
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