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The Question

10/28/09 03:39 PM

"What do you do when a needle breaks off during an injection and you cant get it out of your skin?"

Asked By: tikbrooke

Category: Type 1

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I am a 25 yo type 1. When I took my novolog with lunch today the needle broke off and I couldnt get it out of my tummy.

Expert Answers (1)

10/29/09 09:34 PM

Dear tikbrooke- Thank-you for contacting dLife. The first thing I would do is go to your Urgent Care or your MD office if you can get in the same day and have it removed. That is considered a foreign body and can get infected very quickly. If you can not remove it yourself easily without trauma, a medical person should be doing it.

I would then contact the pharmacy you got your needles out and report this to them. They should replace your needles and report this to the company. IF they are not willing to do this I would suggest you notify the company.

If you have concern about your technique for injection review with your local diabetic educator, injection techniques. There is a video on the BD site for insulin injection if you need a quick tutorial. Take care and do not wait to take care of this issue.

Answered By: Janet HowardDucsay

Accreditations: RN BSN CDE

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(1 Answer)

Community Answers (2)

11/07/09 09:36 AM

First, don't panic. Today's needles and syringes are a much smaller gage (diameter) than in years past, which makes them more vulnerable to breakage, so handling and injection technique are more important than ever. A 31 ga needle can easily be bent by applying ANY lateral force, I've bent a few while injecting into awkward sites, though I've never had a needle break off. If the syringe was new, and you used the pinch and insert method, there is a good chance that a portion of the needle is still above the surface. If so, using your fingers will probably drive the needle deeper, using a tweezers or long nose pliers is better. If you don't have access to these, you want to protect the site from pressure until you or a doctor has access to the right tool. This isn't a life-threatening problem, so you want to collect as much information as possible while the event is still clear in your mind. These questions aren't about blame, they are intended to help prevent you and other people from experiencing a recurrance. Carefully look at what happened. Was this a new syringe, or did you re-use it? Did you inset the needle into the center of the vial cap, or close to the edge? Did the needle break off, or detach from the syringe? Where was the injection site? Did you use the pinch and insert method of inserting the needle, or poke and push? As soon as you've removed the needle or had someone remove it for you, get the lot number from the syringe box and report the ALL the details of the incident to your pharmacist and the manufacturer. Whether there is a problem with your technique, or a defect in the syringe, your feedback will help the entire community.

Answered By: psdaengr

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11/06/09 09:11 AM

This might be somewhat off the topic, however, I subscribed to the FDA web. One thing they have recalled are a number of syringes. The site has shown recalls on Abbott's test strips etc. I think it just might be something that one with diabetes,or care giver etc. may want to look into!

Answered By: drgene

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(2 Answers)

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