Dr. Chapa’s OBGYN Clinical Pearls Lido Patches After CS? Maybe.
Nov 18, 2025
Explore the intriguing debate surrounding lidocaine patches for post-cesarean pain relief. Discover how recent meta-analyses weigh the effectiveness of these patches against opioid use and overall patient satisfaction. Dr. Chapa dives into systematic reviews, revealing mixed outcomes and the role of patches as an adjunct to multimodal analgesia. Find out what the latest data suggests about pain improvement and their practical limitations in a clinical setting.
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Short-Term Benefit After Cesarean
- Lidocaine patches can help localized superficial post-op pain as an adjuvant in the first 24–48 hours after cesarean delivery.
- The benefit beyond ~48 hours is minimal and they are not a standalone analgesic for major abdominal surgery.
Use As Multimodal Adjuvant Early Postop
- Consider lidocaine patches as a low-risk, low-cost adjuvant in multimodal analgesia after cesarean delivery.
- Use them mainly in the first 24–36 hours to try to reduce opioid needs and improve short-term comfort.
Repeated Reviews Yield 'Meh' Consensus
- Multiple systematic reviews arrive at a similar 'meh' conclusion: short-term pain reduction but limited impact on opioids or satisfaction.
- Differences in included trials produce varied meta-analytic results despite overall agreement on limited effect.