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Do you use alcohol swab before every finger stick ?

dnl.phillips

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Wondering your thoughts on this. It really dries out my hands and is a bit of a time suck/trash producing /smelly inconvenience. I usually wash with soap before. Sometimes I just stick. How important is the alcohol to getting an accurate reading?
 
Haven't used them for 25 years. They're not really important.
 
The only time I use an alcohol swab is when I cant wash my hand under some water and I need to do a bg test using my finger.
 
I haven't used alcohol swabs for years now, soap and water usually, but I believe you can still buy them from chemists, or online ?

Best wishes RRB
 
dnl.phillips said:
Wondering your thoughts on this. It really dries out my hands and is a bit of a time suck/trash producing /smelly inconvenience. I usually wash with soap before. Sometimes I just stick. How important is the alcohol to getting an accurate reading?
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I would have thought it unnecessary to use an alcohol swab - a good wash with soap and water is good enough
 
Never used one, in fact I rarely wash my hands before testing, but then I am not a dirty person
 
How about before injecting insulin? Do you all prepare the area in any way?
 
dnl.phillips said:
How about before injecting insulin? Do you all prepare the area in any way?
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Provided your skin is clean and you bath and shower regularly then there's no reason to prepare the area prior to injecting, once over we were told to but that advice has long since changed.

Back to the OP's question, washing and then rinsing then drying your hands thoroughly is enough for a blood glucose test, this will remove any contamination from the fingers that may interfere with the result.
 
I was told not to swab before testing as it was felt that the alcohol on the swab could affect the test strip and give a lower than normal reading...
 
jackois said:
I was told not to swab before testing as it was felt that the alcohol on the swab could affect the test strip and give a lower than normal reading...
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I was just about to say the same thing!! Sue x
 
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