All 4 faces pain scales were found to be adequately supported by psychometric data .
When given a choice between faces scales , children preferred the WBFPRS .
Confounding of pain intensity with affect caused by use of smiling and crying anchor faces is a disadvantage of the WBFPRS .
: For clinical use , we found no grounds to switch from 1 faces scale to another when 1 of the scales is in use .
CONTEXT : Numerous faces scales have been developed for the measurement of  pain intensity in children .
It remains unclear whether any one of the faces scales is better for a particular purpose with regard to validity , reliability , feasibility , and preference .
OBJECTIVES : To summarize and systematic ally review faces pain scales most commonly used to obtain self-report of pain intensity in children for evaluation of reliability and validity and to compare the scales for preference and utility .
Double-blind evaluation of a lignocaine-prilocaine cream (EMLA) in children. Effect on the pain associated with venous cannulation.
The effect of the topical application of a lignocaine-prilocaine cream ( EMLA ) on the  pain of venous cannulation  was tested in a double-blind manner . Sixty boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 10 yr who were to undergo surgery participated in the study . No analgesic premedication was given and the venous cannulation was performed during the preparation for general anaesthesia . Pain was assessed by the anaesthetist and the patient using a verbal rating scale and two different pictorial scales . The effect of EMLA in the alleviation of the pain of venous cannulation was considered significantly better than placebo by both anaesthetist ( P less than 0.001 ) and patient ( P less than 0.05 ) ( verbal scales ) . One conventional pictorial scale showed a statistically significant difference ( P less than 0.05 ) , but the other , based on facial expressions , did not . Local reactions to the cream were minor and transient in both groups
All 4 faces pain scales were found to be adequately supported by psychometric data .
When given a choice between faces scales , children preferred the WBFPRS .
Confounding of pain intensity with affect caused by use of smiling and crying anchor faces is a disadvantage of the WBFPRS .
: For clinical use , we found no grounds to switch from 1 faces scale to another when 1 of the scales is in use .
CONTEXT : Numerous faces scales have been developed for the measurement of  pain intensity in children .
It remains unclear whether any one of the faces scales is better for a particular purpose with regard to validity , reliability , feasibility , and preference .
OBJECTIVES : To summarize and systematic ally review faces pain scales most commonly used to obtain self-report of pain intensity in children for evaluation of reliability and validity and to compare the scales for preference and utility .