Transient diplopia: A loco regional complication of inferior alveolar nerve block

Abstract

A 34-year-old female patient required surgical removal of lower left third molar under local anesthesia. Two percent lignocaine with 1:80000 adrenaline was used for administrating inferior alveolar nerve block at dental clinic. Twenty five minutes after the surgical removal, patient developed diplopia on the left eye. This transient diplopia could be due to retro flow of local anesthetic agent through the inferior alveolar artery and indirectly to the ophthalmic artery paralyzing the lateral rectus muscle. Patient recovered after 60 minutes. This article discusses the possible etiologies of diplopia, the mechanism behind this ophthalmic complication, and the review of various reported literature.

Keywords

• double vision
• lateral rectus palsy
• local anesthesia