What Causes Soreness And Loss Of Sensation In Foot After Taking Lidocaine?

Posted on Sun, 26 Jan 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 26 Jan 2014 Answered on

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I had a piece of glass in the middle of the ball of my foot. It was not very big. the doc injected some Lidocaine with epi so he could find it. He got it out but the bottom of my foot did not pink up nor did sensation return for several hours. the spot where he injected is pretty sore on weight bearing. I am worried about an ischemic injury. I'm an old nurse and I should have known better than to let him. I've been putting warm compresses on it and hoping for the best. Any other suggestions?

Answered by Dr. Lohit K (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: warm compression.massage.oxygen therapy Detailed Answer: Hi thanks for using XXXXXXX I went through the query and understood your concern. With lignocaine the sensation will be lost and epinephrine helps in longer duration of action by causing vasoconstriction. So you have loss of sensation with blanching. The epinephrine will cause vasoconstriction but does not cause complete occlusion and due to reflex mechanism there won't be ischaemic injury as more than 8 hours of complete stop in blood supply may cause ischaemic injury. So be relaxad as you will regain the sensation in few minutes to hours. For now continue warm compression which helps in vasodilation and keep massageing your the lower limb. These will help in increasing blood supply. If the ischaemic injury starts with the signs of severe pain and bluish area then high pressure oxygen therapy to the wound/ ischaemic area will prevent the damage. Hope this information helps you. Feel free to ask if any further queries and I will be glad to answer your questions. Wish you good health and faster recovery. Regards

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