Pain management, listed as the fifth vital sign, has gained increasing attention from clinicians. Conventional analgesics have limited duration, leading to intense monitor and frequent dosing during the early phase in order to prevent the progression of chronic pain. Thus, prolonging the duration of analgesics has become one focus of the pain research. Several strategies, such as adding adjuvants, producing derivatives, and applying extended-release carriers, make it possible for super long-acting analgesics to come into reality. This review briefly introduces the strategies and development of the super long-acting analgesics, including the successful translation and commercialization of the present products of super long-acting analgesics. It also summarizes the application and translation of extended-release drug carriers, providing invaluable reference for the future research on the field of super long-acting analgesics.

Intraoperative anesthesia can be divided into general anesthesia and local anesthesia according to the distribution of anesthetic drugs, and local anesthesia has broad applications in plastic surgery. The short acting time and poor lipid solubility of local anesthetics on conventional dosage limit their application in transdermal delivery. In recent years, there has been rapid developments in the topical analgesic transdermal delivery system, through which a drug penetrates the cuticle of the skin and enters the dermis to block the introduction of nerve terminal pain, so as to achieve the analgesic effect. In addition, transdermal administration can significantly increase safety and patient comfort compared to injectable administration. In this review, the commonly used methods of promoting transdermal absorption and topical analgesics on the market were overviewed, and the application and future direction of anesthetics in plastic and cosmetic surgery were prospected based on the research progress.