I’m curious if people prefer long needles or short needles when injecting and why. Which do you think is better to use? I was using short needles for a couple of years and just started on a box of long needles. I’m having problems with bleeding with the long needles…
Short needles for me. I’m thin & find them easier to inject. I had bruising & bleeding from long needles. Are you pinching up enough skin? That should help with the bleeding.
Curious, why are you using longer needles?
Hi!
I used to use the long needles but switched to the short needles about 5 years ago. I feel less pain with the short ones, if any. I don’t have much fatty tissue in most areas, so these work Good for me.
Why did you switch to long needles? Look for veins and try not to hit them. Are you pinching up the tissue before you inject? I always hold a piece of dry cotton at the base of the injected needle, so that the cotton automatically falls on the injection site after the needle is removed and I press down on it. Thus I hardly bleed but a drop most times.
8mm long needles for me. This way I can inject in a different angle if necessary. The shorter needles (6mm) give me knots and bleeding because they do not reach deep enough - even applied at 90 degrees.
I think the preference of long VS short needles depends on your skin type and injection method. Why changing if it is working for you?
I have 8mm and 5mm pen needles. The shorter needles definitely have a psychological advantage, but either one works fine for me. My biggest problem has been with a non-brand name needle. I ran into an 8-10% incidence of “not so sharp” needles that had to be forced through the skin, or that would drag after initial penetration. I’ll be sticking with B-D from now on.
I’ve used both but I actually prefer short needles. Your less likely to hit the muscle. I still have had bleeding with a short needle it happens when you hit a blood vessel. In my opinion I prefer short needles because I think there less painful myself! I Use short needles in my insulin pen and I’m very happy with them.
I also use short. It really does depend on your skin and amount of fat. I think the long ones are needed for some people because the insulin needs to be deeper. I think the more fat you have the longer the needle should be but I might be wrong.
I use 32g 8mm and or 32g 6mm on Novolog pens. I like the 6mm but for some reason I got the 8mm instead
i have 8mm 30g or 31g from different brands.
I get educated each time I come here, didn’t know there were short and long needles.
Short needles bend way too easily, and do not go through our clothes well. Long please!
Stuart
I use BD and haven’t bent one yet. They also go through my pants easily without bending. I do inject fast though. I do recall some of my needles bending occasionally in the 1980’s and in the early '90’s. But those were the longer needles.
Short. That’s what I was given when I was diagnosed. They work fine. I don’t think I’d want to deal with a long needle, unless I had no choice.
Short needles. I started with long needles and had bruises all over my stomach!
I use short needles as the longer ones causes pain and more bruising than the shorter ones.
longer needles work for me. i get much fewer blood and insulin leaks that way. it seems that the availability of longer ones is becoming lesser and lesser…! the amount of pain is about the same for me, even though 3/4 of the time there is no pain at all. : )
I still have long ones left over from when I was doing MDI… so when I occasionally need one, that’s what I use. I’m probably going to have to order new ones soon and I’ll probably stick with what I have always gotten.
When I was on MDI I used long needles. It was suggested by the my CDE due to the volume of Lantus I was taking and felt that my absorbtion (sp) would be much better.
SHORT! I look like a walking corpse. I tried the long needles and each injection I’d hit the muscle. Ow.