G6 Sensor wire left in body upon removal

After about 6 years of using G4 I am now on my 3rd G6 sensor. 1st failed on day 9, 2nd failed on day 5. When I removed sensor 2, while cleaning off the adhesive I found the probe/wire was still in my body. NEVER had this happen with G4 sensors. Is this a new/common problem?

It hasn’t happened to me, but have seen others report it. Response seems to be that the wire is ok to be just left in skin. But certainly call Dexcom, and see doctor if there is pain or infection.

That can’t be right

I’ve never had a G4-5 or G6 sensor wire break off in my skin. When I first was starting on the G4, I read about the possibility of breakage of the wire in the skin. I looked at the angle of insertion(about 45 degrees), and decided that pulling the sensor straight up off the skin could bend the wire fairly sharply at the skin surface, likely inviting a breakage. By lifting the adhesive carefully at the narrow end of the G6 transmitter, and lifting the adhesive pad on both sides, and finally at the wider end, holding a finger on the transmitter to keep it from lifting yet, the transmitter holder can then be lifted at the sides and pulled a little above a parallel to the skin surface and then moved away from the insertion point. The sensor wire has never broken for me in more than 4 years. Just be sure to pull the wire straight out of the tiny hole, rather than bend it around a corner.
The G6 wires are finer that the G4 wires, so they can likely break more easily.
Dave

1 Like

I don’t believe this commonly happens. My son has been using Dexcom for years (currently using G6) and has never had this problem.

I hate this. I hate when this happens. Gives me the heeby jeebies. It has never happened to me (10 or 15 years on Dex), but it does happen every now and then. People post about it.

Last saw this issue pop up in February on the forum. He did a good post. @Robr
Sometimes Docs tell people not to worry about it and just leave it there. I dunno what the right thing to do is.

This forum member is actively around, so she might be able to answer questions.

Were you able to get it out? My son has been using dexcom for 11 years, G6 for several of them and he only had this happen once, many years ago - not G6. A bit of the broken wire was sticking out - enough for us to remove it.

I had this happen once recently. I remember back to the days of glass syringes and stainless needles we filed on nail files. The doctors at Joslin said if a needle broke off, just draw a circle around the spot and show it the next time you came in. I had a few needles fall out of the early disposable syringes but was always able to pull them out with tweezers. The Dexcom sensor is still in me.

Andy

2 Likes

That’s quite a tale! I appreciate the perspective!!

Yep I got my broken wire removed surgical. It was under my skin and was migrating, so it’s all fixed up lucky my insurance covered it so I didn’t proceeded this financially with dexcom after 4 weeks of worry and stress I was kinda done with everything so I dropped the ball. But now I am happy to know that it’s out of my body lol

2 Likes

I know this is an old post, but I think that is creepy and you had to really push for them to see it, and get it out. I don’t even know how they would get something like that out, dig a big hole in your skin?
I wonder if they ever got back to you…?

They used OR x-ray to locate it and they made about a half inch incision they removed it and sewed me back up lol

This just happened to my 17 year old son, yesterday. His wire is in his leg. It was painful yesterday, and we made an appointment to have the wire removed. Today it’s not hurting, so I’m wondering if we should just leave it in the leg. What are the risks of it migrating? It sounds like Dexcom needs to do something about this situation. I’m definitely going to pursue them for reimbursement of medical expenses, as I have a high deductible insurance plan.

1 Like

I had this happen with the first dexcom 3 days sensor years ago. I was able to pull it out with tweezers. At the time my doctor told me to leave it and it would push itself out, however I was not satisfied with that so I poked around till I caught it.

Dexcom will not reimburse you anything because they tell you that you can only use it in the abdomen.
If you use it anywhere else, you are using it off label.
They won’t even replace the broken sensor when you put it in an unapproved place.
I use the backs of my arms exclusively and I generally do not have any issues. Of course also off label.