Pain of local anesthetic injection of lidocaine during subsequent stages of Mohs micrographic surgery: A multicenter prospective cohort study

Background: Patients awake during staged cutaneous surgery procedures may experience procedure-related pain. Objective: To determine whether the level of pain associated with local anesthetic injections prior to each Mohs stage increases with subsequent Mohs stages. Methods: Multicenter longitudinal cohort study. Patients rated pain (visual analog scale: 1-10) after anesthetic injection preceding each Mohs stage. Results: Two hundred fifty-nine adult patients presenting for Mohs who required multiple Mohs stages at 2 academic medical centers were enrolled; 330 stages were excluded due to complete anesthesia from prior stages, and 511 stages were analyzed. Mean visual analog scale pain ratings were nominally but not significantly different for subsequent stages of Mohs surgery (stage 1: 2.5; stage 2: 2.5; stage 3: 2.7: stage 4:2.8: stage 5: 3.2; P = .770). Between 37% and 44% experienced moderate pain, and 9.5% and 12.5% severe pain, during first as versus subsequent stages (P > .05) Limitations: Both academic centers were in urban areas. Pain rating is inherently subjective. Conclusions: Patients did not report significantly increased anesthetic injection pain level during subsequent stages of Mohs.