As part of their insulin therapy, many diabetics wonder how often they need to change the needles in their insulin pen: After each use, or can the pen needles be used more than once? You can find all the information you need here.
What do doctors and diabetes educators recommend about changing needles?
Doctors and diabetes educators also recommend changing pen needles before each use. The experts point out that in practice, many patients underestimate dangers of multiple use. This statement is supported by international studies in our neighboring European countries, where awareness of needle change is much more pronounced than in Germany. People with diabetes in France and Holland behave in a particularly exemplary manner: here, the pen needle is used on average only once or twice at the most.
How often should the insulin pen needle be changed?
Pen needles are disposable products. A new needle should be fitted before each injection. Several problems can occur when pen needles are used more than once. Among other things, reused needles can increase so-called lipohypertrophies. These are tissue changes with a thickening of the tissue visible at the insertion sites. In addition, reused pen needles can lead to painful injections due to blunting of the needle support.
What are the benefits to the patient of single-use pen needles?
The injection is generally less painful. First, the surface of the pen needle has an intact lubricating film, and second, there is no risk that the tip of the needle is already bent. This also minimizes the occurrence of lipohypertrophy and promotes more even absorption of the insulin from the injection parts. This results in a more stable blood glucose level during insulin therapy. Each time the pen needle is changed, residues of previously injected insulin are prevented from precipitating as crystalline residues, thus clogging the needle.
Are there additional costs to the patient and the health care system due to frequent needle changes?
Diabetics who are prescribed pen needles by their physicians do not incur higher costs. The advantage for them and our healthcare system is, among other things, that blood glucose fluctuations as a result of lipohypertrophies can be better avoided. This leads to a more predictable insulin supply and therefore favors good control of blood glucose levels.
In the long term, good insulin therapy leads to a reduction in secondary diseases such as amputations, blindness, dialysis, etc. Thus, consistent single-use of pen needles could rather contribute to a long-term reduction in the burden on health insurers by reducing the costs of treating secondary diabetes diseases.
