1. Reusing Lancets
2. Reusing Lancets – Insights from the Net
3. Reusing Syringes
4. Reusing Syringes – Insights from the Net
5. Reusing Syringes & Lancets – My View 

Conclusion

This was definitely an eye opening experience and will put some money back in my pocket.  After just five days of reusing my lancets, I can honestly say that I didn’t notice any difference.  I would change my lancet each morning and use the same one throughout the day.  I didn’t go more than five times without changing the lancet and I always wash my hands with anti bacterial soap beforehand.  Going forward, I think I will use a lancet about three times before changing it.  There is no way I would go weeks or more without changing it because they aren’t that expensive.

As for the syringes, I’m not sold on reusing them.  I am a pumper now and have been for the past three years, so this really isn’t an issue.  However, all of the material that I read didn’t convince me that the cost saving was worth the risk.

One thing I did think about is the care of my fingertips over time.  After ten years of testing, my fingers don’t look like pin cushions [shown below] and you would never know I’ve pricked my fingers roughly 20,000 times (crazy when you think about the number of times). I’ve tried to use my arms, but they’re all hairy and mess up the sample.  So far, my fingers don’t bother me and give great samples.

Here’s a quick example of the annual savings by simply using a lancet twice.

I test about 5 times a day, 365 days in a year.  That’s 1825 lancets I need for a year.  At $13 for a box of 100, I need about 18 boxes for the year.  The cost of 18 boxes is $237 for the year.  If I use each lancet twice, that cuts my cost in half and now I only spend $118 per year.  Not bad huh.

I am a big fan of the BD Ultra-Fine lancets that are 33 gauge.  I have my BD lancet device set at the minimum depth (setting 1) and they work like a charm.  Rarely do they hurt and go just deep enough to get a good sample.  I hope you’ve found this series as interesting as I have.

After these five posts will you start, stop or continue to reuse lancets or syringes?

If you enjoy the content here, please take a minute to subscribe to the Blogging Diabetes RSS feed or RSS via email to stay updated on what’s new with Diabetes.