After you inject, should you wipe the area with an alcohol swap?

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on May 26, 2009 at 2:30pm

Wiping with alcohol before or after doesn't disinfect. In order to have any disinfectant properties an object has to be submerged in alcohol for quite a while. Every nurse & doctor knows this, but they swab patients anyway as protocol for patient peace of mind.

All that needs to be done is for her to wash her hands before & this has do with making sure there's nothing that will effect the reading, not for disinfecting.

Never use lotion before injecting! This will effect the reading.

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Permalink Reply by Denise on May 26, 2009 at 4:22pm

I agree--no alchohol before or after--just irritates the skin (IMHO) and serves no disinfectant purpose. I use alchohol wipes to get the IV300 goo of my CGMS sensors--does a pretty good job at that (I use baby oil to take the residue off my skin)

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Permalink Reply by LAURA MANTLO on May 26, 2009 at 8:04pm

You misunderstood. I never said it disinfects, I said cleanses the injection site. And, I never said rub lotion before injection, I said rub lotion on dry skin if it occurs. Yes, I know this.

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Permalink Reply by Ron on May 25, 2009 at 9:44pm

Great Post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Maria on May 26, 2009 at 1:29pm

I never have used alcohol wipes either before or after injecting the insulin + I think I can rember being told that it wasn't necessary - sometimes though I find some injections are a bit more stingy than others while injecting!

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Permalink Reply by nel peach on May 26, 2009 at 8:23pm

No extra work , No extra costs necessary ...living with type 1 for 26 plus years ...in other words millions of finger pokes /insulin injections ( a possible incorrect explanation....the number " million " , however it feels like that ??) ...just keep the area clean . With finger pokes , just wash hands, then WIPE first drop ( interstitional fluid instead of blood sample ) . If one does not, the outcome may not be correct

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Permalink Reply by Alan on June 9, 2009 at 10:14am

I use an alcohol wipe to clean the top of the insulin vial before extraction. So, I have a wipe sitting there. After injecting, I lightly cover the injection site (no pressure) and have never experienced stinging. I mainly do it in case I get a little bleeding at the site.

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Permalink Reply by Mark on June 26, 2009 at 4:41am

I have never used alcohol, except maybe a nip before I go to bed! I usually injected through the clothes, but not with the old reuseable needles. Won't wiping the area, after the injection, cause insulin to leak out of the site?

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Boyd on June 28, 2009 at 12:49pm

We use the OmniPod so we DO use alcohol wipes to clean the area prior to attaching the pod. When we were using MDI, we used the same method. Occaisionally we will use the Alcohol Wipes with benzocaine (pennies more per wipe), and they do work, but not well enough to justify spending more (in my opinion.).

We do not wipe afterwards. After injection/finger pokes that is....

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Permalink Reply by Josephine on June 28, 2009 at 1:56pm

After the first two years I never used alcohol swaps again after injecting.

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