Is there a way to prevent scar tissue?

An OmniPod discussion has me thinking about rotation/scar tissue. I know that rotating sites is ideal in helping to prevent scar tissue. Is scar tissue inevitable for those who do not rotate to different areas on the body? What do you do to prevent scar tissue? How long does it take for one to build up scar tissue? How do you know if you have built up scar tissue

We know that the best absorption is achieved on the stomach (correct me if I'm wrong). Does this make everyone want to only use their stomach? Should we set different basals, correction factors, IC for other areas of the body?

I know my daughter likes using her stomach best – she says it hurts the least there. But, I do try to get her to rotate as much as possible. She hates wearing on her arm though, won’t even think about doing her leg, so it’s either stomach or back. My brother - also a T1 – has been giving himself shots in his stomach for 30 years, and he definitely has scar tissue there. His doctor’s told him he should alternate sites more often, but he finds the stomach the least painful too. Interestingly though, he only uses the last two fingers on each hand to test his blood sugar because he didn’t want ALL of his fingers to end up calloused and scarred.

I actually thought that using arms and legs would result in better absorption because of the mobility of the limbs. We’ve discussed this fact with Caleb’s endo and I’ve heard others have similar results. Caleb sticks to his belly and back and I haven’t noticed a discernible difference between the areas we use.

The Endo. office and the Insulet nurse both say the best insulin obsorption area is the stomach. Carolina cannot use her legs because she is muscular there and the Insulet nurse advised aganist using that area. I guess this is one of those areas that your diabetes may vary.

Absolutely. :slight_smile:

Rotation, rotation, rotation. I can’t use my stomach anymore because I used it exclusively from age 20-28. I now have to use my butt, my hips, my thighs, my arms, my lovehandles, and my back. Absorption can be good in any area with a little fat to pinch and where you don’t find yourself (or your child) dislodging the cannula.

You dont want to be popping pods… Thats the reason i was given against using the legs with the Omnipod…

John, do you mean that it is easy to knock a pod off when the pod is placed on the legs? The Insulet nurse recommended my daughter not use her legs because she is very muscular in her legs.

I use my upper thighs regularly. I do seem to get a few more failures and occlusions there than my stomach, perhaps because of the additional motion, but they don’t get knocked off playing basketball.

What sometimes happens, least how it was explained to me, is if the cannula ends up hitting muscle tissue, it can occlude and sometimes can even push it out,the adhesive may still keep the pod on, but the occlusion can cause a pod failure/need for a new pod

Thanks Jim and John for the explanations. :slight_smile: