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Preventing or treating hard skin from lancet damage

lucynical

lucynical

Member
Messages
14
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi there,

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter.

Does anyone have any tips for preventing hard skin build up on finger tips from blood sugar monitoring? I moisturise my hands like a demon but it doesn't seem to make a huge amount of difference. Just thought there may be some sneaky things I could try or perhaps a particular moisturiser people recommend.

Thanks
Lucy
 
The only thing I can recommend is that you use a new lancet every time and rotate your sites as you would your injections.

All the best
Claire x
 
Thanks Claire, I definitely do that, or at least try to. Although having said that, I do find it easier to get blood out of my left hand rather than my right which is frustrating!
 
I'm the same! I don't remember the last time I used my right hand!

I've been diabetic for almost 20 years and use a different finger every time and then I'll use the other side and the top and all down the sides before I go back to the first area.
You will always get marks there but they're not that noticeable :) x
 
I use a pumice stone to get rid of any hard skin build-up. Seems to work pretty well.

I first started using one because of the callouses I get from weight lifting. However, it also seems to be pretty effective at keeping the tips of my fingers from feeling like sandpaper.
 
According to Dr. Bernstein, don't use alcohol which will harden the skin, just wash hands before pricking.

I used to use alcohol, but I haven't reached the point of testing where my skin hardened, but stopped anyway after seeing the Bernstein video. What happened instead was that my fingers got sore. After I changed my lancet device to the Accu-check Fastclix, I don't get the soreness anymore.
 
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