I have this chip that I want to implant, that’s not in an injector. I kept several old injectors from previous implant jobs, but they’re caked in old dry blood and whatever else, and probably not all that sharp anymore, what with oxydation and all.
Can I reuse one of them and how?
I’m thinking of soaking it in alcohol for several days, sharpening the bevel on an Arkansas stone, then letting it soak again in alcohol for several more days. Also, I understand that the lubricant that was originally on the needle will be gone, and that it’s likely to hurt quite a lot more than it originally did. Still, I reckon it’ll be better than doing the job without any injector at all.
I would think you should be able to, I am not a doctor however.
In lieu of re using one, will Amal send you a new one?
If you are determined to re use it, your plan looks pretty solid. I would try to have a tattoo shop near me autoclave it. (Edit: If they have a plastic setting, see Amals comment below)
To clean the dried blood off, I would hold it down in boiling water as to not scrub the needle and to not let the needle ding around.
I am not sure of your sharpening skills, but the needle shouldn’t have lost enough sharpness from one poke into you to the point it needs to be re sharpened. I would personally not worry about this as I know I cannot sharpen a needle.
If you really want lube, this is sterileand we used it in surgery to poke through. I imagine if you stab yourself through this, it would act like lube.
If you can’t find a way to get it autoclaved, then I guess this would be the best route, though I would give it a long several days. I assume you plan to sterilize your implant the same way.
I am really just curious as to what it is.
Edit: Personally I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think it is the safest, but hey man, do you! And take pics.
I would add that alchohol alone doesn’t sterilize. I have a couple saved from chips that I tested without implanting. If I was to reuse an injector, I’d soak it in chlorhexidine at least. That way it’s much much closer to sterile.
Not worth the possible trouble.
Get the wrong spore in there and at the least you’re going to loose a chunk of fresh and learn things you never want to learn.
Alcohol and/or boiling water isn’t enough… you may get away with it or not.
Pull the trigger enough times and you’ll find a loaded chamber… or maybe on the first pull.
I think if you’ve got a spare implant that’s not sterile you’re pretty much stuck with going to a proper piercer for it to be safe, since that thing really is gonna need to be thrown in an autoclave before being thrown in you.
As for the injector, you’re already at a piercer, see if they have an appropriate gauge needle and a follower and scrap the whole re-used injector idea. It’ll function essentially the same way, and it’s possible to make sure it’s actually sterile and safe.
I’m not too hot about reusing those old things. But I was thinking of going DIY on this one. Hence the question. The more I think about it, the colder I get
It might be easier to find a catheter needle or U.S. style piercing needle big enough for the chip to drop inside? Pierce the skin, make a little tunnel pathway, drop the chip down the shaft and use a finger to keep it under the skin as you withdraw the needle?
The thing with the pierce-then-slide-it-in approach is, there’s a chance the chip ends up sideways. It’s happened to my first chip, which was (rather unfortunately) installed that way. With the injector, you punch a tunnel along a particular line, back off a bit, then drop the chip in place all guided by the needle until the very end.
The chip can end up sideways in either case really… but the pierce-and-slide is not “make a hole and shove the chip through” it is basically the same as the injector method… the piercing needles goes all the way in, making the same hole/pocket/tunnel… the only difference is you remove the needle and insert the chip vs pushing the chip out the end of the needle. In fact, many people do the injection wrong and do not retract the injector first before expelling the chip, which results in the chip extending past the tip and into unseparated tissue… often with the chip finding it’s own path.
To be clear, the easiest way for a piercer to do this would be to insert piercing needle at least 20mm, remove, manually insert the chip with sterile gloves. The reason for the depth is that the point of piercing needles is often quite elongated and the back bevel is 10mm sometimes back from the tip… and you need to figure your proper pocketing from the back bevel to the incision… so 20mm for a 12mm-14mm chip.
The second method would be to use a piercing needle and taper (metal rod) where the needle goes in, the chip is dropped down the inside, and the taper placed behind the chip. The needle is then removed, while the taper holds the chip in place. The taper must not be used to push the chip out… that’s a bad idea. This method is often done wrong, and is not necessarily any better than the pierce and insert method at the end of the day.
Lack of lubercant doesn’t really make it hurt more. Just makes it harder to get in. Dry, oil free skin against metal is actually pretty sticky. My first self install required significant pressure even after breaking through to get the needle to slide in…or out… https://youtu.be/L34A72W9y1I?t=377
I did reuse a needle once, when I moved my NExT, soaked the needle and implant in chlorhexidine for a few days, but I removed the blood right after doing the first installation, so I had no gunck😅
Had to move it from R1 to R0 as my hand got smacked too much at work😢
Out of interest @Sijaka, how hard was it to insert the new tag into the needle? Just realised I’m not sure what holds the tag in the needle. I assume just friction fit but then I’d imagine it’d be hard to put a tag in it by hand without an unintended stabby.
It’s coated in some kind of lubricant that prevent it from sliding out because it’s so light.
Matter of fact, it’s even enough to prevent it from staying behind when you retract the needle, if you don’t depress the plunger all the way. That’s what happened during my first implant job, which was a bit botched.
Is that when you want to implant a scorpion from a 1980’s 8-bit game?
There is lube yes, but we also put a small dot of silicone indeed the needle’s inner wall to retain the chip. It provides just enough friction to keep the chip from falling out but you can still push it out easily.
Maybe you should coat the chip with the tiniest amount of candy cane so it stays in the needle by friction, but also the customer get that fantastic DT feel-good effect when they get implanted
