Many people need regular injections of medicine for one reason or another. Everyone knows about insulin shots, but medical syringes and needles are also vital for hormone injections, certain cancer medications, and fertility drug administration. In all these cases and more, the person administering the shot needs to get it right, whether they are the patient or a guardian/caretaker. Any mistakes or slip-ups may prove painful.
This includes learning how to select the right tools for the job. You can find so many different medical syringes and needles out there that the choices can be overwhelming. That is why we at MedOnTheGo put together this guide.
Syringes and needles are not synonymous. Still, there are many different kinds of both syringes and needles. You need to know which of each you will need for your treatment. For your convenience, we will go over some of the more notable types of medical syringes and needles.
Please also note that some syringes and needles are disposable, meaning they are good for one use only, while others are designed for re-usability.
Syringes are devices that use a plunger to push the liquid out of a barrel, and often through a hollow needle. A wide variety of syringes exist to treat a wide variety of maladies. Here are just a few examples:
Needles are a component used in many syringes, though not all treatments require them. As with syringes, medical experts keep multiple variants of the needle design among their equipment. Here are some of those variants:
Just knowing which type of syringe or needle you need to use is not enough. Other factors must be considered before you make your choice, for example veterinarian syringes are needles shouldn't be used for humans. Here are arguably the three most important ones.
Volume is important because it determines how much medication you can get out of each injection. If you need to inject a large amount, you certainly cannot go with a small syringe. Milliliters (mL) and cubic centimeters (cc’s) are the most common units for measuring the amount.
Every syringe comes with numbered markings on the exterior of the barrel. They show how much medication is contained in the barrel, and how much can be contained.
Needle length is measured in inches, or rather fractions of inches. Depending on the length, the needle may be suitable for different kinds of injections. The longer they are, the deeper they can go:
Just as important as the needle length, or arguably more important, is the needle’s width, more commonly known as its gauge. Both terms refer to the diameter of the needle, and more width means a smaller gauge number. For example, a 30-gauge needle is much finer than a 20-gauge one.
As with needle length, needles of different gauges are suitable for different types of injections:
If you need medical syringes and needles to treat yourself, a loved one, or a patient, look no further than MedOnTheGo.com. Our inventory includes syringes and needles in a variety of types, sizes, lengths, and gauges, as well as accessories. Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of which ones would be best for you. Visit our online store today and find exactly what you need.
