Every once in awhile I stumble across something wonderful. I wish it happened more often.
The latest discovery is little vials of sterile saline. I'm sure I've seen them before, but if so, it never occurred to me that they could be purchased so easily. ShopMedVet.com carries these for less, but they require a medical license for this product, so that leaves me with Amazon.
The vials of 0.9% sterile saline come in three sizes--5 ml, 10 ml, and 15 ml. To help you visualize the amount, 15 ml is a tablespoon. Currently, Amazon is selling a box of 48 15-ml vials for just under $20, so about $0.42 each. Reviews on Amazon suggest that when shipped, these vials have a shelf life of about eighteen months. Most people who carry them wear contact lenses, and these vials are an ideal size for short trips. However, beyond using them for contacts, there are a few other great reasons to put some of these vials in your medical prep supplies.
The first obvious perfect use for these vials is in smaller medical kits. They can be used for irrigating foreign matter out of the eyes. They're tiny bottles that fit nicely even in small boo-boo kits as well as IFAKs. The cap is easily removed. Unfortunately, as many have noted, the cap cannot be replaced and the vial does not stand up on its own.
The next great way to use these bottles is as a wound wash. They're easy to control for creating nice pressure to flush dirt out of wounds.
These two reasons alone are sufficient for warranting the purchase of these little vials of sterile saline. However, this final reason totally seals the deal: They are perfect for making your own (under the direction of a physician) injectable solutions of lidocaine and other medications. They aren't necessarily what you'd want to rely on in a years-long collapse, because the vials don't have a long shelf life. But if life gets really hairy before you've got a sterile lab established, having these bottles ready to go will save some stress. Also, mixing injectables in these little vials minimizes chances for contamination from other containers, an important advantage.
It is important to note that these little vials of sterile saline are "not for injection." Sterile saline that is for injection must be tested to show that it is "pyrogen-free", meaning that there are no bacteria in there that could cause an infection. These little vials have not been tested, so they are "not for injection." Using them to produce an injectable solution carries certain risks with it. So does living in TEOTWAWKI country.
Because it is a liquid, it will eventually deteriorate. However, these vials of sterile saline should last some time beyond the use-by date that is stamped on the box. As long as there are no particulates and the solution is not cloudy, it should be safe to use. The following address is for the product I bought off Amazon. Scroll down a bit to find the 15-ml bottles.
https://www.amazon.com/modudose-unit-dose-saline/s?k=modudose+unit+dose+saline
Next week I'll share the details of how one physician makes a lidocaine injection solution.
Links to related posts:
Benadryl
Epinephrine
Lidocaine
Managing Lacerations
Skin Preps and Washes
Basics of Suturing
For further reading:
https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/inspection-technical-guides/pyrogens-still-danger
https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/fda/fdaDrugXsl.cfm?setid=C7A7D3D2-7638-4570-9EB8-A5E2BEC82B5D
12.24.19
I'm a contact lens wearer so I keep a small bottle of lens solution in all my kits. I'm covered if I need to use it for my lens and also on the off-chance I need to irrigate a wound. And if I'm at the point of needing to irrigate a wound, worrying about the sterility of the solution is a rather low concern.
ReplyDeleteYMMV