Impact on practice
Keith L. Duffy, MD, associate professor of dermatology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, who was asked to comment on the study, said that in light of current local anesthetic shortages and back orders, “we dermatologic surgeons have been experimenting with different anesthetics and concentrations that we can use in our patients. Ropivacaine may become the anesthetic of choice for many of our practices given its inherent properties.”
The duration of anesthetic effects by anatomic location in this study is “actually more impressive than I would have suspected as a practicing Mohs surgeon. The results of this study will immediately impact my Mohs surgery clinic,” he said, adding that he hoped that Dr. Minkis and others “will expand on this study to include more patients, different anesthetics, and more anatomic locations.”
Dr. Minkis acknowledged certain limitations of the study, including its single-center design and the fact that there were too few observations of medical and clinical characteristics for subgroup analysis.
She and Dr. Duffy reported having no financial disclosures.