Venepuncture pain can be reduced.

A lidocaine-prilocaine cream, 'eutectic mixture of local anaesthetics' (EMLA) and placebo were compared regarding their ability to diminish venepuncture pain in Oriental infants and young children. The investigation was double-blind and randomized. Twenty-eight children (median age 30 months) were treated with a placebo and 27 (median age 24 months) with EMLA. All pain reactions were observed by the same investigator and classified according to a three-grade scale: no pain, slight pain and severe pain. Treatment with EMLA resulted in significantly lower pain scores than treatment with the placebo (z = 2.67, P less than 0.01). No adverse reactions were observed.