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Reusing lancets?

Snootybutnice

Well-Known Member
Messages
119
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I've read that many people reuse their lancets and although it seems to me to be a bad idea my lancets didn't turn up last week so I cleaned off my needle today with tcp and used it twice as I only have 1 left.

How many people here reuse their lancets out of interest?
 
and I also poke the needle into the lid of the next lancet so no-one can catch themselves on it if they put their hands into the bin, but should I be throwing it away in my general household waste or should I be using a more safe way of disposing? I've not had my 1st meeting yet with my Diabetic nurse so thought I'd ask you guys instead.
 
Hi
Definitley not throw lancets in the general bin, even if re-covered with the plastic tip - it could come off with movement etc. I now have a yellow sharps bin because of being prescribed test strips but, prior to this, I used the empty container the test strips came in (or empty tablet bottle etc) and just taped it up when full and put in the bin or would take to the pharmacy and ask them if they could dispose of them for me.

Hope this helps
Julie
 
Thanks Julie - that's far more sensible - I'll do that
 
I use the box the test strips come in for used strips and lancets.. only change my lancets a couple of times a week.
 
I don't change lancets every time, but when I do, I push the sharp all the way into the twist off portion of the new lancet. I perceive the risk to be minimal, if we think about the other stuff routinely going into waste.

I mean, does anyone have a sharps bin for disposable razors ? Whilst for the few cans we use, we always ensure the can top goes into the can, before disposal, but there's still a raggedy edge. There is a far more significant risk of a blood letting experience if one "encountered" one of those in a bin that the short, extremely fine lancet.

We I using injectables, I'd put all my sharps in the yellow bin, but otherwise I don't think I'm significantly increasing any health risk to anyone.
 
As I have said in previous threads I save mine up in a container, and took them to my GP and got the staff to put them in their Sharps container.

I have a Multiclix lancing device that has a six lancet magazine, which when you dial up a new lancet the old one is retracted back inside the magazine and will not come back out.

I do not have enough of the these in a container to take to the GP's bin yet.

I reuse the lancet for several days before it starts to get a bit on the blunt side.
 
When you all reuse the lancets do you clean them off at all?
 
I don't.. no need they sit on my desk and only come into contact with me..
 
@AndBreathe - yes that's what I was doing. Good point you make and very true as well. But I do like the earlier suggestion of putting it in the bottle for the testing strips - and then if I had a project where I needed to cut paper (ideal for art projects cutting around paper - I tried it the other day and was amazed how sharp they really are!!) then at least I'd still have them available
 
I am not entirely convinced that they shouldn't have a quick clean off first ... there has got to be bacteria growing afterwards?! Still...it's not hurt either of you so far - so I can breathe a little easier knowing I've used it twice after applying TCP. Thanks everyone - that really helps. LOL :-D
 
There are probably more bacteria on the cloth you use to wipe it than there are on the used lancet!
 
hahaha good point bulkbiker...I was worrying about that too. Can I ask you another question aside from this one please? You mention no more meds after 3 weeks of Metformin hell...and when I see the nurse they are talking about putting me on this stuff as well as statins. I'm going to insist on a 'no' for the statins...but what issues did you have with Metformin?
 
Medical advice is to only use lancets and needles once. Each use blunts the end and can cause pain or problems.
There are lots of people who use them repeatedly without issue but as I've said before, there are many smokers who will not get lung cancer still doesn't make smoking ok
 
i wouldnt worry about using it more than once I use the same lancet weeks on end (although I wouldn't recommend this), I have been told to change it every time by the diabetic nurse but its never given me a problem with infection of any kind, but must admit I should change it more often. as for throwing away your lancets getting a sharps bin is good advice as said by some people your nurse or gp will help you how to get one, different areas of the country seem to have different ways on supplying them, i live in the south of England and i phone up the local council and they swap my full bin for a new one when needed
 
If you think you should clean a lancet because of the possibility of infection then you already know what you should do! Use a fresh lancet each time and always make sure you have plenty of lancets in store and order them long before you run out so you dont run out.

Also use a sharps bin, your lancets, test strips and needles if used are classed as medical waste and should be treated as such.

Hope this helps

Martin
 
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I use fastclix (so the lancets are contained within the cartridge). I use one until it starts to be painful, then advance then next one. No way to clean them off, since they are contained within the cartridge. It's been at least a week (at ~4 tests per day) since I advanced a lancet.

@Shari67 - the risks associated with reusing a cartridge (not including sharing it with others) is not comparable to smoking. Pain (because reuse does dull the needle) is a personal tolerance - not a health risk. There is a minor risk of infection - but no more than any other skin break made by an unsterilized item (and probably a lot less, since the lancet is kept inside a protective device, inside a carrier. I've got 5 skin breaks on my right hand at the momet that are completely unrelated to lancing them - each of which is larger than a lance prick and thus much more prone to being infected. In general, bacterial infectins (if any develop) are pretty easily treated - unlike lung cancer.

I am generally healthy and have no problems healing. I'll take my chances with reusing. That's not something I would do with even a single cigarette - the risks are significantly higher, and the consequences far more grave.
 
Hi I had the same problems that a lot of people have. Everyday diarrhoea when on the regular metformin then constipation and explosive diarrhoea when on the slow release version. I figured that I wouldn't eat something that had that effect on me so why would I take medication that did that to me. Anecdotally on the forums there are people who say that this stops after a few weeks but I decided to go extreme diet rather than medication as I dislike taking meds for anything. I also refused statins outright from day 1. That is of course just my experience and others report no problems.
 
I change my lancet when it starts to hurt and always if I am going to poke someone else. Usually about once a week. I am immune suppressed and have never gotten an infection from a lancet I get infections very easily. Used ones go in the sharps bin which the pharmacy gives me for free. Even if its not free it will be very cheap to get one.
 
I re-use my lancets but I sterilise them after one use and go through them all again. To save the confusion that happened the last time I answered this question, I have a box of 1000 which I use one at a time and only once and when they are all used I put them in a steamer for half an hour and then start over.
 
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