Poor eyesight and insulin injections
If your sight is not good, the needle is the risky part of an injection, not the pen. NeedleBay lets you do the needle by feel: it is held upright in its bay, the pen screws on and off, and lids with lift tabs click shut so you can hear and feel every step.
NeedleBay is a pen needle case with four bays and see-through green lids. New needles wait sealed in their bays. Used ones go back in and stay locked inside until the sharps bin, the yellow box for used needles.
How common is poor eyesight with diabetes?
Very. In the UK, 48% of people with type 1 diabetes and 28% with type 2 have some diabetic retinopathy, damage to the back of the eye that can affect sight. That is nearly half of everyone with type 1.
Poor sight can raise the risk of a needle stick, a contaminated needle, or even a double dose, because it is hard to check a log or see the pen.
How does NeedleBay help when I cannot see well?
The pen’s dose you can already set by counting clicks. Fitting, removing and getting rid of the needle is where people with poor sight tend to need a hand, and NeedleBay lets you do that by click and feel as well.
| Challenge | How NeedleBay helps | What does it |
|---|---|---|
| Lining up a tiny needle to fit it | The pen screws onto the needle in its bay, by feel. No aiming a needle at the pen | Needle held upright |
| Taking off a used tip you cannot see | Screw the pen back into its bay and unscrew. Fingers stay away from the used needle | Unscrew into the bay |
| Double dose, because a log is hard to check | Each used needle goes back in its bay. No seal means used. Feel along the bays to know which doses are done | One bay per dose |
| Touching the needle to find it | The needle waits, sealed, in its bay. The point does not need to be touched | Needle held in its bay |
| Needles lost on a table or floor | Used needles stay locked in the case. Nothing left to find by accident | Needles stay in until release |
| Small parts, poor sight | A lift tab on each lid, positive clicks, see-through green lids. Every step can be felt and heard | Lift tab and click lids |
How do I use it?
The four bays fit a typical four-injection day on basal-bolus insulin, that is a long-acting dose plus one with each meal: breakfast, lunch, evening meal and bedtime. Fewer injections? The same four bays last longer.
NeedleBay is a purely mechanical system. No batteries, nothing to charge, nothing to go wrong. It works with the pen needles you already get on prescription, including BD Micro‑Fine, NovoFine, mylife and GlucoRx.
See every step with photos and a short video on our How it works page.
Does it help the people who help me?
Yes. A partner, carer or visiting nurse can see which doses are done at a glance, and can empty the used needles into the sharps bin without touching one.
Where can I get one?
