Topic summary

Bleeding at the injection site: normal, and what to do about it — does this still hold?

Practice › Administration injection site rotation aseptic technique subcutaneous injection needle gauge & length

This is a generated summary. It shows the 5 most-liked posts from a topic of 25, in their original order, with the accepted answer included where one exists. It is a reading aid and it will miss nuance — the full topic is the record.

orbitrap_olaTL3Mass spectrometrist4 Feb 2025#3

b.osei, post #1: Bleeding at the injection site: normal, and what to do about it — does this still hold? — that is the question, and I have not found it answered plainly anywhere I have looked. Something changed and I would like to know whether it should have. Same compound, same supplier, same technique, 9 weeks apart, and the experience is not the… Go to post

Building on the opening post rather than restating it.

A new needle for each injection is not fussiness. A needle blunts on first use and a blunted needle is the reason the second injection hurts more than the first.

29 likes in reply to #1 18mo

journalclub_wrenTL3Regular25 Feb 2025#7

orbitrap_ola, post #3: Building on the opening post rather than restating it. A new needle for each injection is not fussiness. A needle blunts on first use and a blunted needle is the reason the second injection hurts more than the first. Go to post

Post #4 is the version of this I will quote in future. One addition.

Alcohol swabbing and letting the site dry is the whole of the preparation for a subcutaneous injection into intact skin. Injecting before it dries is what stings.

21 likes in reply to #3 17mo

a.lindqvistTL218 Mar 2025#12

The arithmetic in post #9 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.

Pinch or no pinch: the decision depends on needle length and on your own anatomy. A longer needle (8 mm and up) reaches subcutaneous tissue easily without a pinch. A shorter needle (4-6 mm) is safer with a gentle pinch. The pinch size matters less than people think; the injection angle matters more.

That is the practical version. The rigorous version is longer and says the same thing.

32 likes 16mo

c.serranoTL23 Apr 2025#16

p.mwangi, post #4: Subcutaneous injection into abdominal tissue, thigh or upper arm is what the licensed labelling in this class describes, and the published comparisons found the differences in exposure between those sites small. It is a small point and it changes the answer, which is an awkward combination. Go to post

Injecting into an area that has become firm: lipohypertrophy — thickened fatty tissue from repeated injection in one area — changes local tissue absorption. Avoid injecting into areas that are noticeably firm or lumpy and allow those areas to recover for at least a few months.

24 likes in reply to #4 16mo

j.silvaTL22 May 2025#24

Air bubbles in a subcutaneous injection: the honest risk assessment is low. Tiny air bubbles in subcutaneous tissue do not behave like an air embolism in a blood vessel. A few air bubbles are not a reason to restart the entire injection.

24 likes 15mo

Read the full topic (25 posts)

This topic was referenced in

Follow-up: A site rotation scheme that is easy enough to actually followPractice › Administration · 89 replies
Follow-up: A partial dose because the pen emptied mid-injectionPractice › Administration · 14 replies

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