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Your Diabetes Testing Can be Pain-free with These New Lancets

You can use a lancet that can make your blood glucose testing painless. Finally.

Lancets are essential to diabetes management. But they don’t get the respect they deserve.

Many people with diabetes are attached to the blood glucose meters we need to use and don’t give a second thought to the lancets that we must rely on for the actual testing. This seems strange because the lancet is the point where diabetes management happens.

Maybe this lack of interest is because lancets cost us so little. But it’s more likely that we ignore them as much as we can because we don’t want to think about something that usually hurts us.

Until now.

We will soon be able to use new lancets made for us with pain-free testing in mind. The manufacturer, Genteel LLC, calls their lancets Butterfly Touch.

“This name most closely represented the sensation described by the majority of volunteers,” Genteel CEO and Chief Research Engineer Christopher Jacobs, Ph.D., emailed me. “The Butterfly Touch performed 27.7 percent better than the average of the two highest performing lancets that were commercially available.”

Genteel tests of lancets

The Genteel research labs began testing 32 of the most popular brands of lancets in September 2014. The purpose of this testing was to advise customers about which lancets would work with the least pain when used in Genteel’s lancing device.

These tests showed that LifeScan’s OneTouch FinePoint caused the least pain. While LifeScan discontinued these lancets almost two years ago, I was able to buy a box of them then.

My suggestion

At that time, I remember recommending to Dr. Jacobs that he should produce his own lancets. I had assumed that he was already considering that.

But he just emailed me that I did play a role. “It may have taken a while,” Dr. Jacobs wrote,  “but I followed your advice and created these super painless Butterfly Touch lancets.”

Not the slightest pain

I have tested several Butterfly Touch lancets that Dr. Jacobs sent me to use in my Genteel lancing device. I am happy to report that I never felt the slightest pain.

Disclosure: I did not ask for any compensation from Dr. Jacobs or from his company, and we never discussed it. My role has been and continues to be that of a person with diabetes who is happy to recommend them to my readers.

A chore less onerous

For many of us who have diabetes, using a lancet to draw a drop of blood from a finger is the most painful work we have to do. And most of us need to perform this onerous chore several times a day.

Even after the failure of many companies to make a truly painless non-invasive meter, many of us are still hoping for one to appear. But painless testing is already here with the  Genteel lancing device using a Butterfly Touch lancet.

How much?

While Genteel’s lancing device isn’t cheap at its list price of $129, it’s certainly much less expensive than any non-invasive meter will likely be, if and when any meter succeeds in coming to market.

The Butterfly Touch lancets themselves are also less expensive than many other lancet brands currently on the market. Dr. Jacobs wrote me that a box of 100 will sell for $9 through the company’s website, as well as through amazon.com. They will be available in early February 2017.

Respect

Now, at last, you can use a lancet that can make your blood glucose testing painless. These Butterfly Touch lancets deserve your respect.

This article is based on an earlier version of my article published by HealthCentral.

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  • Roger Wehling at

    It’s funny you’ve never mentioned tiniBoy lancets which are by far the best I’ve ever used and they’ve been out several years now. You should give them a test. They are 36 gauge but I will give the Butterfly a try.

  • John Le Marquand at

    You haven’t done a review on Freestyle Libre, a pain free meter. It got FDA approval last October. It is available in several European countries and Australia. Looks promising.

  • Lisa Fish at

    I think someone should make a device like a lancet that would also test the blood. A one step process would be so helpful and quick.

  • Tom Wolff at

    PS This promo code worked for me!, about a month ago:
    http://www.mendosa.com/blog/?p=3351

    • David Mendosa at

      Good.

  • Tom Wolff at

    David–
    I wonder what gauge those OneTouch FinePoint lancets were–can you say? The new Genteel Butterfly Touch Lancets do not come with a stated gauge, as they are actually multi-gauge; that is they are thicker at the base, tapering to the point. If pressed (my contact w/ Genteel rep–who reported on discussion with their engineers), an “estimated or approximate” gauge is about 26 at the base tapering to about 30 at the tip. Their research found that this is the least painful. The narrowest quality lancets which work in the Genteel lancing device, of which I am aware are the ReliOn Micro-Thin 33 gauge ones. There are thinner lancets, but they don’t have good quality control, from what I have read.

    • David Mendosa at

      Yes, Tom. The FinePoint lancets were 25 gauge. And you are right that the Butterfly Touch lancets are actually multi-gauge. Good research to find what the gauge is at the base and tip.