What Is Benzocaine?

Potential Medication Interactions

Medications often come with interactions, since certain combinations can reduce their function or cause serious consequences. Thankfully, it appears as if benzocaine has few medication interactions. This is likely because it is typically used as a topical medication rather than an oral one. However, some interactions do seem to exist. Benzocaine may interact with prilocaine or sodium nitrite.

The former of the two is also in the same medication class as benzocaine. Thus, using these medications at the same time may increase an individual's risk of fatal oxygen deprivation and the condition that can cause it. This interaction appears to be more frequent among patients with preexisting conditions and younger patients. Sodium nitrite may also increase this risk. However, this substance can be found in an individual's diet. Thus, they may be dealing with it more than they realize.