How To Prick Your Finger
When you start using a UA tester to measure the concentration of uric acid in your blood, and by that how much you are at risk for a gout attack, you quickly
discover something you may not quite have expected: You have to prick your finger and draw a drop of blood every time you are measuring. And it hurts.
discover something you may not quite have expected: You have to prick your finger and draw a drop of blood every time you are measuring. And it hurts.
Three kinds of safety lances in their original packaging.
There are many ways to prick your finger to draw a drop of blood for the uric acid meter. The lancets, as they are called, vary in sophistication and effectiveness. None has yet trumped nature, where the mosquito uses a much slimmer proboscis than any lancet to extract twice as much blood as you need tor the utic acid meter. And with less pain.
CRUDE LANCETS HURT
The UASure uric acid meter comes with five lancets. You have to remember to order them separately. Five lancets may not even last you through the first try if you are a complete beginner. And when you need to order new lancets, it makes sense to take a step up when it comes to quality. The lancets that come with the UASure are the cheapest on the market, and unfortunately also the crudest. They hurt when you take your sample.
There are two reasons for this: The needle is too big, and you have to push it into your finger yourself. The wider the needle the more it hurts (remember the mosquito, whose proboscis is so fine you can not feel it).
The needle width is called the gauge, and you can order new lancets with a more narrow gauge (the white one is much better). But you still have to push it into your finger. And it takes a lot of courage to stab yourself - much more than I could ever muster. I keep pushing the needle slowly into my fingertip. And then it just hurts more. Plus you release blood and thrash the cells in the skin. The desinfectant will hurt when you apply it too.
There are two reasons for this: The needle is too big, and you have to push it into your finger yourself. The wider the needle the more it hurts (remember the mosquito, whose proboscis is so fine you can not feel it).
The needle width is called the gauge, and you can order new lancets with a more narrow gauge (the white one is much better). But you still have to push it into your finger. And it takes a lot of courage to stab yourself - much more than I could ever muster. I keep pushing the needle slowly into my fingertip. And then it just hurts more. Plus you release blood and thrash the cells in the skin. The desinfectant will hurt when you apply it too.
Two safety lances of the type where you twist off the head to expose the needle.
The simplest (and cheapest) lancets are, in other words, a bad idea. If you can afford them, there is a better alternative. Several, in fact.
The first is the applicator, which comes with the lancets. All manufacturers have their own models, but an applicator does two things which makes the process easier: It pushes the needle into your finger, and it pushes it to a depth you can decide yourself. The UASure uric acid meter comes with an applicator which takes the cheap type of lancets.
The first is the applicator, which comes with the lancets. All manufacturers have their own models, but an applicator does two things which makes the process easier: It pushes the needle into your finger, and it pushes it to a depth you can decide yourself. The UASure uric acid meter comes with an applicator which takes the cheap type of lancets.
CONTROLLED PUNCTURES WITH SAFETY LANCETS
The safety lancets (many of which have their own applicator systems) is a diffetent idea. The applicators are quite advanced and gives additional steadiness to the application procedure, but they are actually unnecessary.
A safety lancet has a spring built in which releases the needle and pricks your finger so a drop of blood is released. The depth is much smaller than you need with lancets that are not spring-loaded, as the force of the spring pushes the needle into your skin and makes a much neater hole. But you have to puncture in the right place, otherwise the blood drop does not become big enough. The edges of the finger are too hard, you need to apply it on the soft pad at the front of the finger, in a circle about five millimeters from the edges. Press lightly towards the puncture. Then a large enough drop forms quickly.
A safety lancet has a spring built in which releases the needle and pricks your finger so a drop of blood is released. The depth is much smaller than you need with lancets that are not spring-loaded, as the force of the spring pushes the needle into your skin and makes a much neater hole. But you have to puncture in the right place, otherwise the blood drop does not become big enough. The edges of the finger are too hard, you need to apply it on the soft pad at the front of the finger, in a circle about five millimeters from the edges. Press lightly towards the puncture. Then a large enough drop forms quickly.
HOW TO GET LANCETS
Lancets are classified as medical devices, so you may find ordering them from a vendor in the US may be problematic. But if that is not a problem, you can order them from a diabetics supplier. Here is a list of safety lances, the links are affiliate links (so the store will give me s small commission if you buy here). If you want to, feel free to buy them somewhere else.