For anesthesia of a facial region during laceration repair, which technique is described as appropriate?

• A. Topical Anesthesia
• B. Infiltration
• C. Nerve Block
• D. Intravenous Sedation

Answer: (C)

Regional nerve blockade is the best choice for facial laceration repair because the face’s sensation comes from branches of the trigeminal nerve, and numbing a nerve trunk can cover a large facial area with just a few injections. A nerve block places local anesthetic near the targeted nerve (for example, infraorbital, mental, or supraorbital nerves), providing reliable, broad anesthesia of the wound and surrounding tissues with less need for multiple injections. Infiltration at the wound edge can numb only the immediate tissue and may miss deeper branches, requiring many injections and causing more tissue distortion. Topical anesthesia is often insufficient for most facial lacerations, and intravenous sedation does not anesthetize the tissue itself. So using a nerve block gives the most consistent and efficient anesthesia for facial laceration repair.