Ting 2009.

Study characteristics
Methods	Study design: parallel RCT Unit of randomization: individual (1 eye included) Study start date: 2 May 2006 (anticipated date on trial registry; ACTRN012605000273684) Study end date: 2 May 2007 (calculated based on the reported duration of study) Participant follow‐up time: 2 weeks Treatment time: 36 to 48 hours Time from abrasion to randomization (hours): less than 36 hours; the mean hours from injury in the tetracaine group was 13.8 hours and 15.8 hours in the saline group Power calculation: power and sample size calculations were based on a two‐tailed difference of 25% to 50%, as there has been a large variation in corneal healing rates in previous studies
Participants	Country/countries: Australia Setting: emergency department of an urban hospital Inclusion criteria: traumatic superficial corneal abrasion with or without a retained foreign body, or keratitis from welding flash exposure Exclusion criteria: over 36 hours since corneal injury, under 18 years old, known adverse reaction to study medications, eye disease other than refractive error, contact lens use, pregnant or lactating, eye infection, functionally one‐eyed, requires urgent referral to ophthalmology (penetrating eye injury) Reported a subgroup analysis (Y/N): no Randomized (n): 47 Tetracaine 0.4% group: 22 Saline group: 25 Exclusions and loss to follow‐up (n; reasons): 31; did not attend follow‐up (22); retained foreign body/rust (2); data collected outside of follow‐up window (7) Tetracaine 0.4% group: 15; did not attend follow‐up (11); retained foreign body/rust (1); data collected outside of follow‐up window (3) Saline group: 16; did not attend follow‐up (11); retained foreign body/rust (1); data collected outside of follow‐up window (4) Analyzed (n): 16 Tetracaine 0.4% group: 7 Saline group: 9 Age (mean): overall not reported Tetracaine 0.4% group: 35.1 Saline group: 33.6 Gender (number, % female): 0 (0%) Race/ethnicity (study definition, n, %): not reported Etiology of corneal abrasion (study definition, n, %): corneal abrasion (15, 32%), corneal foreign body (20, 43%), welding flash burn (10, 21%), welding flash burn and corneal foreign body (2, 4%) Tetracaine 0.4% group: corneal abrasion (8, 36%), corneal foreign body (9, 41%), welding flash burn (4, 18%), welding flash burn and corneal foreign body (1, 5%) Saline group: corneal abrasion (7, 28%), corneal foreign body (11, 44%), welding flash burn (6, 24%), welding flash burn and corneal foreign body (1, 4%) Baseline pain (study scale): not reported
Interventions	Intervention: amethocaine (tetracaine) 0.4%, 1 drop hourly as needed Comparison: normal saline 0.9%, 1 drop hourly as needed Co‐interventions: Oral analgesics (unspecified) as needed for eye pain Topical antibiotics (unspecified)* *Not all participants received antibiotics. Discharged with topical antibiotics for subset of participants (8/22 amethocaine; 8/18 saline group)
Outcomes	Primary study outcome(s): Proportions of patients whose cornea had completely re‐epithelialized at 36 to 48 hours, defined as the absence of fluoresceine staining uptake Secondary study outcome(s): Pain was measured using a VAS on an ungraded 100 mm horizontal line with the left end indicating “No pain” and the right end “Worst pain imaginable.” Pain assessed every 3 hours over 36 hours (up to 12 pain measurements) Satisfaction with treatment received Use of oral analgesia Unscheduled medical review Visual problems Adverse event(s): significant functional or clinical adverse Measurement time points: baseline, 36‐ to 48‐hour ED visit, 2‐week telephone interview
Notes	Sponsorship source: listed source of support listed differs between reports. Funding source name: Mater Foundation in trial registry (ACTRN012605000273684); no source of support reported in the full‐text publication (Ting 2009) Conflicts of interest: "none" declared Informed consent obtained?: yes Ethics approval obtained?: yes Investigator's name: Joseph Ting Affiliated institution: Department of Emergency Medicine, Mater Adults' Hospital, South Brisbane, Australia Trial registration ID: ACTRN012605000273684