Patients presenting to a dedicated Pilonidal Care Clinic who have at least 2 future laser follicle ablations planned will be queried to determine their interest in participating in the study. Patients will be randomized to topical lidocaine or placebo, which will be applied for 30 minutes prior to the laser procedure, before which it will be removed. Laser technicians will be unaware of which cream the patient received and will record a post-procedure Likert pain score, from 0 to 10.
Patients will return in 6 to 8 weeks at which time they will crossover to the other group. Patients who received lidocaine cream will receive placebo and patients who received placebo will receive lidocaine cream. Cream removal and laser follicle ablation, with post-procedure pain score recording, will be conducted as during the first visit.
Twenty patients will be recruited and each patient will act as their own control.
