RWC 2024: Anesthesia for intravitreal injections

Daniel Kiernan, MD, FACS, shared details about a topical anesthetic that can be used when treating patients with intravitreal injections at the 2024 Retina World Congress meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Video Transcript:

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Daniel Kiernan, MD, FACS:

Hi, I'm Daniel Kiernan. I'm here at the Retina World Congress. I work at The Eye Associates in Sarasota, Florida, and one of the many innovations that I have been exposed to here at Retina World Congress 2024 is IHEEZO chloroprocaine 3% topical gel, which is FDA approved since September 2022 for topical ocular anesthesia for such things as intravitreal injections, cataract surgery, and other ocular surgery. It is a low viscosity gel, 75% less viscous than other topical anesthesia options, and, as indicated on the label 3 drops can provide long lasting, up to 21.5 minutes, anesthesia for your patients. In my hands and in my experience, it's one of the best topical anesthesia agents as an option for intravitreal injections. In addition, as noted in clinical trial, no patients required additional pain control or analgesia, including opioids, and it's the only type of anesthetic with a permanent J-code as of earlier this year in 2024.