Use Pre injection swabs - yes or no

[carer999]

What are the pros and cons of using the Pre injection swabs. Is it better to use them or not?

I have been reading that just washing is enough and the swab is what makes it sting.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi carer999 The nurses who give me my injections stopped using swabs when they started using new sealed disposable needles each time instead of the previously used (how many times?) ones that came out of the steam sterilizer and all I do now is roll up my sleeve.

[pvanderaa]

I use the swab to clean the top of the vial before withdrawing the B12 (this wouldn’t apply to ampoules) and also to clean skin at the injection site to eliminate any bacteria.

I use a penny and hold it on the skin for the count of 10 to leavea circular mark on the skin. It ring provides a nice target as I’m working backwards looking in a mirror to inject into my buttocks.

The alcohol from the swab doesn’t cause thr injection to sting at all. I’ve been injecting cyano for eight years.

For me, the pain always shows up at an old injection site whenever I inject. Never at the newest site until a week later when it becomes the old injection site.

[deniseinmilden]

They're fine if you want to use them (so long as you give the site time to dry fully) but you don't have to.

The golden rule is always make sure the skin is 100% dry before you inject as any liquid mobilises dirt. (Makes it mobile and therefore transferable from the skin to the needle and potentially into the puncture site).

If you have used them and allowed it to dry completely it shouldn't sting as the alcohol (the bit which would make it sting) will have evaporated off.

In animals we are just as keen not to cause abscesses and provided the skins are dry it is possible to do hundreds of injections in a day (such as when we're TB testing or vaccinating) without any problems and we never use swabs these days and few get a bath and blow-dry first!

[Miss-guineapig]

Definately no need to swab unless you have an visibly obviously dirty area. If you do swab please allow to dry before injecting. My nurse hat on...we stopped swabbing to clean many years ago in Scotland, can't tell you the last time I had to use a swab x

[Alex97]

I need to self inject a med called anakinra on a daily basis and the nurse who showed me how to do them said there is no need to use the swabs (they can cause stinging) and just make sure you wash your hands and don t touch the needle. No need to wash site before either!!

[Ryaan]

No need really. Doesn’t make any difference to pain. If you keep injections in fridge hold them in your hand to warm as cold liquid can be painful, and inject slowly like count to 20. Fast injection will hurt otherwise all is fine.