Effect of Local Anesthetics on Cell Division and Migration Following Thermal Burns of Cornea

It has long been recognized that the frequent topical application of anesthetics delays the repair of epithelial injuries of the cornea. This observation has been made clinically (Stallard¹), and more rigorously controlled comparisons have been made on laboratory animals on which treated and untreated standardized corneal abrasions have been inflicted (Gundersen and Liebman,²Friedenwald and Buschke³). Such studies have lead to attempts to secure less harmful drugs which are yet effective anesthetics. The search for an anesthetic agent which does not inhibit healing is obviously of practical value. It is of equal interest to determine whether inhibition of healing processes is proportional to the anesthetic properties and is, therefore, possibly due to the same factors which produce anesthesia. In such a case normal healing rate and anesthesia would be incompatible. It is the purpose of this paper to show that anesthesia and normal healing are compatible, to