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Is prilocaine safe during pregnancy?

Answered by MotherToBaby’s teratology specialists, quoted in full — including the questions most pages skip, like whether a father’s exposure matters.

By the pharmaranks editorial teamReviewed against the MotherToBaby fact sheet for prilocaine (OTIS, published via the NIH) sourcesUpdated Jul 21, 2026How we research

The questions people actually ask about prilocaine in pregnancy

Answered by MotherToBaby, the fact sheets written by the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists and published through the NIH. Quoted in full — we do not condense them.

I was given prilocaine for a procedure. Can it make it harder for me to get pregnant?

Studies have not been done in humans to see if prilocaine can make it harder to get pregnant. One animal study reported that prilocaine did not affect fertility (ability to get pregnant).

Does prilocaine increase the chance of miscarriage?

Miscarriage is common and can occur in any pregnancy for many different reasons. Studies have not been done to see if prilocaine can increase the chance of miscarriage.

Does prilocaine increase the chance of birth defects?

Birth defects can happen in any pregnancy for different reasons. Out of all babies born each year, about 3 out of 100 (3%) will have a birth defect. We look at research studies to try to understand if an exposure, like prilocaine, might increase the chance of birth defects in a pregnancy.

Studies have not been done in humans to see if prilocaine can increase the chance of birth defects. Information from animal studies does not suggest that prilocaine would significantly increase the chance of birth defects.

Does using prilocaine in pregnancy increase the chance of other pregnancy-related problems?

Studies have not been done to see if prilocaine can increase the chance of pregnancy-related problems, such as preterm delivery (birth before week 37) or low birth weight (weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces [2500 grams] at birth).

There are case reports of methemoglobinemia in the newborns of some people who received high doses of prilocaine during pregnancy.

Does prilocaine affect future behavior or learning for the child?

Studies have not been done to see if prilocaine can increase the chance of behavior or learning issues for the child.

If a man uses prilocaine, could it affect his fertility or increase the chance of birth defects?

Studies have not been done to see if prilocaine could affect men’s fertility (ability to get a partner pregnant) or increase the chance of birth defects. In general, exposures that fathers or sperm donors have are unlikely to increase risks to a pregnancy. For more information, please see the MotherToBaby fact sheet Paternal Exposures at https://mothertobaby.org/fact-sheets/paternal-exposures-pregnancy/ .

Quoted from MotherToBaby Fact Sheets — Prilocaine, published August 2025. MotherToBaby states its fact sheets should not take the place of medical care and advice from your healthcare providers.

Breastfeeding is a separate question — what LactMed says about prilocaine

This is general reference information, not medical advice. Whether to take any medication in pregnancy is a decision for you and your prescriber; do not start or stop a drug on your own, because an untreated condition can also carry risk.