• Atilla Alpay and Tuncer Güney.
• Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University, Zonguldak, Turkey. atillaalpay@hotmail.com.
• Int Ophthalmol. 2021 Jan 1; 41 (1): 195-201.

PurposeTo evaluate the effectiveness of localized sub-Tenon's anesthesia for pain control during 23-gauge vitreoretinal surgery.MethodsEighty patients were randomly divided into two groups as localized sub-Tenon's (group 1, n = 41) and retrobulbar (group 2, n = 39) anesthesia groups. In group 1, a small volume of anesthetic was injected into the sub-Tenon's capsules at the trocar entry sites. The 23-gauge vitreoretinal surgery was performed in all patients. In both groups, the pain levels during the surgical steps were evaluated using the visual analog pain scale.ResultsPatients in group 1 experienced less pain than group 2 patients did during placement of the trocars and scleral depression (p = 0.041, p = 0.029). Pain during laser photocoagulation was higher in group 1 (p = 0.008). There was no serious complication due to anesthesia or surgery.ConclusionLocalized sub-Tenon's anesthesia is as effective as retrobulbar anesthesia in many steps of vitreoretinal surgery for providing pain control. It can be considered an alternative form of local anesthesia.

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