For people with Type 1 diabetes and many other health issues daily injections are a way of life. For these individuals insulin syringes are literally life saving devices. Throughout the years there have been changes in the humble syringe that has made is easier, less painful and much safer for those that have to complete daily injections or multiple injections per day.
History of the Syringe
While this may be surprising to many people, syringes were used in early medicine dating back to the Romans in 1st century AD. About 8 centuries later larger syringes, without needles, were used to remove body fluids and to also even remove cataracts from the eyes.
The first use of the hollow needle style of syringe, which is the forefather of the modern insulin syringe, was first used in 1844. It was created specifically to inject fluid under the skin by an Irish doctor by the name of Dr. F. Rynd.
Although the first modern styles of syringes were used in many different countries, including Italy and France, they were largely used with an incision to get the fluid into the body. After Dr. F. Rynd used the hollow needle, two surgeons, Dr. Pravaz and Dr. Wood created what was to become the prototype of the modern hypodermic syringe that included a screw type mechanism to control the flow of fluid from the syringe into the body.
In 1946 the all glass syringe was invented in England and became the norm. It could be easily sterilized between uses and, since everything was the same size, all parts were interchangeable. The plastic disposable insulin syringe was not produced until 1956.
Standard Insulin Syringes of Today
The specialized and standard insulin syringes of today offer special marks on the barrel of the syringe to correspond with dosages of standard U-100 insulin. This means less chance of error in calculating required dosage.
They also have very short needles that are designed to insert just under the skin for optimum positioning and release of the insulin. They are also a thinner needle, or a higher gauge needled, so injection site pain is reduced as much as possible.
