Do you resue the lancets when testing your BG? Or do you use once and then dispose of them?
Official answer: They are single-use devices and are safely disposed of after each use.
Unofficial answer: I re-use my stabbies.
But I had some.. fun initially getting my grubby mits on my first batch. They're worse than razors for compatibility. The GP's recommended ones were lil single-use pink plastic things, and I was given one of those. Plus a prescription for a load more that didn't include an applicator and were discontinued. Fun. Compounded by me happily removing the guard from my 1-shot and hearing a <click>, cos I'd fat-fingered and pressed the trigger. Doh!
So I took it apart and figured out how to reset it. Bent the needle a little, and discovered that results in bruising. Live & learn..
And so.. It depends on the stabbie/lancet. Some won't let you re-use them. Some will. All generally state single use due to potential risk of infection. Which could be bad, and result in having fewer than the normal complement of fingers. So it's down to how much risk you're comfortable with, and some risk reduction. Main risk is infection, so if you have clean fingers, you reduce that. Most of the lancets I've seen are a very fine stainless steel wire that get shot into us and removed quickly, so less risk of contamination than hollow needles. But there is a risk. Then there's potential damage, which in my experiments meant bruising was time to click over to the next needle in my FastClix.
And being me, I took a needle cartridge apart to see how it worked and what state it was in. Visibly, it looked clean, but growing cultures off it may tell a different story. But I like the FastClix because it's easy to clean the end-cap and applicator.
And I guess the TL;DR is if you're confident you can spot an infected finger, do so at your own risk.
(And for T1's and CGMs, it's part of the support case for making those more available, ie cost of consumables and those consumables may be underreported if they're being re-used.)
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