How to choose insulin pen needle

When diabetes patients inject insulin, the necessary equipment is needles. Various brands and specifications will dazzle people. Although the needle is small, it is very selective.
The needles are universal on all kinds of insulin pens, so there is no need to be too tangled about the brand. The specification is the key consideration. The specification of the insulin pen needle we mentioned usually refers to the length of the needle. At present, the specifications of insulin pen needles on the market are 4mm, 5mm, 6mm and 8mm. The shorter the needles are, the thinner the needles are. The less pain they feel. This reduces the risk of injection into the muscle layer and also reduces the psychological burden of patients when injecting insulin. Therefore, with the progress and development of technology and the change of patients' needs, needles become shorter and thinner, and long needles are no longer popular. The selection principles are as follows:
1. Children, teenagers and very thin adults, as the subcutaneous fat layer is thin, 4mm needles are the safest and preferred.
2. As the abdominal fat will become thinner due to uterine expansion during pregnancy, pregnant women with diabetes (any type) should choose a 4mm needle if they inject insulin into the abdomen.
3. For adult patients who cannot master the skin pinching technique or tilt injection, it is also recommended to choose a 4mm needle. Because when using a needle ＞ 4mm, it is necessary to use the correct skin pinching technique or tilt the needle to avoid intramuscular injection. When using a 4mm needle, except for children and very thin adults who need to pinch the skin, other people do not need to pinch the skin, and the needle can be inserted vertically.
4. For obese patients, adult patients who can grasp the correct skin pinching technique or tilt injection, 4 types of needles can be used.
5. Patients who cannot hold the 4mm needle insulin pen due to shaking hands or other obstacles can use a longer needle, but they should properly pinch the skin or tilt the injection according to their body shape and injection site.
6. Those who have psychological burden on insulin injection and fear pain and fear pain should choose short needles.
No matter what type of needle is selected, the ultimate goal is to inject insulin into healthy subcutaneous adipose tissue. It must be avoided to inject insulin into intradermal, muscle, scar and adipose tissue, otherwise it will affect the efficacy of insulin, and the injection site must be rotated correctly each time. All pen needles are disposable, and patients should not reuse them