Benefits of Hypodermic Needle in Medicine

According to research data, the use of a Hypodermic Needle to inject liquid medicines into the body or to extract body fluids enables various benefits as compared to a regular needle. Since hypodermic needles come with a smaller diameter, it causes no or less pain for the user. Also, the data suggest its utilization has less vein damage.

Structure and Material 

A Hypodermic Needle is the widely trusted medical needle used across the world by doctors and nurses at medical facilities, nursing homes, and clinics. It is a thin and hollow tube with a sharp tip; the whole body structure is constructed from high-quality stainless steel. The hollow tube is made by the tube drawing process which uses a special type of dies to form sharp needles.

Main Purpose of Hypodermic Needle

This needle got its name from Greek words, where Hypo means ‘under’ and derma means ‘skin’, which means this needle penetrates the skin for two main purposes:

1. To deliver a medicinal drug into a vein or in the muscle.

2. To extract fluids, like blood, from the body. 

Hypodermic Needle v/s syringe

These needles are detachable and thus, always used in combination with a syringe. A syringe is a hand-operated device with a sliding plunger inside its cylindrical tube. When this sharp needle is fixed onto the given port in the syringe, the plunger inside the syringe body is pulled back to draw in a liquid drug. Then the needle is inserted into the skin while the plunger is pushed in to deliver the medication into the body, under the skin.

In a nutshell, both are two separate devices where the needle is the detachable part. One can use a single syringe with many needles of different sizes. The Hypodermic Needle is fixed on to the tip of a syringe.

Size of Disposable Hypodermic Needle

This needle comes in different sizes that are measured in Birmingham gauge (G). The classification is done according to:

1. Common medical purpose: The smallest needle’s size is 33-G while the largest size is 7-G. 

2. Blood test purpose: A needle of 21-G in size is used to extract blood from the fingertip for blood test.

3. Blood donation purpose: 16-G and 17-G sized needles are used for blood donation. 

 The smallest size of the needle is 33-G with a diameter 0.159 mm and the largest size is 7-G with diameter 3.810 ± 0.076 mm. The size varies from 7-G to 33-G.

Reusable or Not?

As these needles come in direct contact with the person’s body fluid, the risk of cross contamination increases. Therefore, they are intended for single-time use to reduce risk of cross-contamination and promote infection control and hygiene.