I have been using the Bayer Contour for a few months. Lately I’ve noticed a larger amount of callus on my fingers, compared to when I used the lancing device that I had before (the one for the BD Link meter). Anyone else experienced the same thing?
Manny: I use a lancing device. I have a real nice callus on the middle finger of my left hand.
Manny,
I have found after 35 years of diabetes and 20 years of testing that callouses are on all my fingers. A nurse told me about a moth or 2 months ago that she had had many diabetics who had tested their fingers and had callous form on their fingers and had to have the tips down to the 1st joint in them removed and I will pass along the information she told me. If you have a bs machine you can test on your arm or anywhere else do it b/c all diabetics Type1 or 2 usually wind up with cirtory problems and that will happen.
I think the BD Link suggests using the 33 guage BD lancets. They’re a bit thinner than others on the market and should lead to smaller callouses. I see from your posting Oct 6 that your Link meter used the big white BD lancing device. That one is by far the smoothest and most comfortable lancer in my collection, even without using the 33 guage lancets. The Contour device is probably my least favourite out of the 5 different types I have. I find the release button requires too much pressure, and the release is very sudden, almost a snap, which makes me flinch and wiggle the lancing device. The result is more pain and probably more callouses. It’s a weird shape and too small for my big hands too.
When I want a small, very portable lancing device I use the new version of the One Touch lancer.
BD, One Touch, and Bayer lancets are all interchangeable. Mix and match them as you want. Go back to using the BD lancer with whatever lancets you prefer.
As for callouses, I just rotate through 3 fingers on one hand. I stick with one side of one finger until I have a callous, then switch to the next. 3 fingers give me 6 sides to work with, and so far I heal well enough that by the time I develop a callous the previous callous is already gone.
I sue the Accu-chek Aviva and it has a cartridge type lance. I get black dots on my finger tips
I hope you are testing on the SIDES of your fingers, not the tips.
I use the Accu chek lancet with the barrel. The meter it came with was inaccurate crap but I love the lancing device.
I only use a couple fingers to test and I do have callouses on them. Periodically they peel off and new ones develop. If I stop using one finger for a while, the callouses go away. I played steel string guitar for a many years so I am used to having thick callouses on my finger tips. When I stopped playing, they went away after a couple years.
I do not have callouses, not sure why as I tend to use the same finger over and over again and when I notice a lot of dots after bathing, I try to remember when I test the next time to use another finger. I let my fingers have a rest for about a year using the palm of my hand under the thumb and little finger. I am now back to my fingers and all the dots are gone on my palms, hmmmm perhaps I need to go back to my palms for awhile.
I think we all need to stop and think before we test to rotate, rotate, rotate, a hard thing to do.