Suggest Treatment For Cut On Lower Lip After Injury

Posted on Tue, 14 Jul 2015

Question: Hi, my daughter is five years old. She fell over and cut her lower lip (I think from her teeth) and it was bleeding a lot so we went into the nearest pharmacy. They patched up the bleeding and it stopped but she was still in pain and crying so they gave her a cream. It's called virasolve. It has lidocaine 2% (20mg/g), Idoxuridine 0.5% (5mg/g), and benzalkonium chloride 0.5% (5mg/g). We put that on her lip. The lip started to bleed again at once stage because she would cry and open the wound again.

Its been a few days and looks much better now. I didn't look at it before, however I am now a bit worried about the use of that cream on the open cut. Is it possible that some of the ingredients may have gotten into her blood circulation? Would that be a problem? I have heard that kids shouldn't use too much lidocaine as it can be harmful. Should I be worried?

Answered by Dr. Eric Goldstein (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Cut

Detailed Answer:
Hello. I just read through your question. I am sorry your daughter had to deal with this.
Topical products that contain lidocaine are perfectly safe. Yes, there is a lot of talk out there about potential side effects and their effect on hemoglobin. But this are exceedingly rare cases and are therefore not given much consideration. Keep in mind, even in the absence of an open wound, topical products still get into the bloodstream with no adverse effects.
You do not have to be concerned about this.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar