Emla cream 5 contains prilocaine and lidocaine two active ingredients that help numb the skin it is a local anaesthetic cream that can be applied to the skin to suppress the pain of needle procedures to help you feel less pain how does emla cream work when emla cream is applied to the skin the lidocaine and prilocaine prevent pain signals passing from that area to the brain and help numb the skin this means otherwise painful procedures can be performed without causing pain what is emla