Lidocaine Versus Diphenhydramine to Achieve Local Anesthesia for Laceration Repairs

Diphenhydramine, when injected locally, has been shown to achieve a certain level of local anesthesia. It has been documented for use in simple bedside procedures, however there is a gap in knowledge in its comparison to lidocaine. The purpose of the study is to determine if local infiltration of diphenhydramine is noninferior to the use of lidocaine 1% when trying to achieve local anesthesia for simple laceration repair. Patients who present to the emergency department with a simple laceration will be enrolled in the study. Patients will be evaluated for the pain of the injection as well as the pain of the laceration repair procedure post injection.