Comparison of Three Different Anesthetic Approaches for Intravitreal Injections

92 patients in treatment with intravitreal injections were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: proparacaine 0.5% drops (Group Drops), proparacaine 0.5% drops plus subconjunctival lidocaine (Group SC), or 2% lidocaine gel (Group Gel). Patients were asked to score their pain experience using a visual analogue scale (VAS), a scale of 0 to 10, immediately following the injections as well as 10 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours and 24 hours after. Patients also graded the overall injection experience as Excellent, Very Good, Fair, Poor or Awful. The physician evaluated the patient\'s eye movement during intravitreal injection in three levels: none or minimal (0), not compromising the injection (1), compromising the injection (2).