Shawn Michels. Image courtesy of Jeff Miller/UW-Madison
Injecting insulin takes two hands. One hand holds the insulin injector. The other hand pinches the skin to form a bulge so the hormone enters fat under the skin while avoiding muscle, where it can be absorbed quickly enough to cause a seizure.
Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that regulates sugar in the blood.
“Normally, you have an automatic pancreas,” said Shawn Michels, a University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) student who has diabetes and has invented an add-on to insulin injectors, “but my pancreas is manual so I have to give myself injections when I want to reduce my blood sugar levels or eat food with carbohydrates.”
Millions of people with diabetes around the world have likely injected insulin into the easily accessible stomach and thighs. Many of them experience the side effect that bothered Michels-scarring and bruising.
But Michels may be the only one who dwelled on the problem long enough to come up with a simple “Why didn’t I think of that?” solution.
Michels, a senior in the Wisconsin School of Business, ran track and played basketball and football in high school and was diagnosed with diabetes during his junior year.
Insulin injectors use an ultrafine, mostly pain-free needle, but the need to use both hands during injection limits injections to the stomach and thighs.
Less than a year ago, after an estimated 10,000 injections, Michels dreamed up his idea while home on winter break.
The design is confidential, but essentially the device substitutes for the second hand, producing a bulge that holds the insulin needle stable in the subcutaneous fat. Using a 3D printer, Michels made a succession of plastic prototypes, which he estimates he’s used about 1,000 times. “I could never inject into my arm, butt, or back, but now it’s a one-hand process,” he says. “I gave my thighs and stomach a month to rest, and now I don’t have bruising or scar tissue.”
Michels has filed a patent, and the device can be molded from plastic at low cost. Unless Food and Drug Administration approval is required, he hopes that it will be on the market in about six months.
Michels sees other sales points for his device. For example, it would help a passenger in a car or airplane, where road bumps or turbulence now makes for erratic injections. The device could also have safety benefits, he added, since avoiding the need to pinch the subcutaneous tissue could eliminate an accidental injection into the finger.
Because the needle is concealed with the device, it can also help patients who fear injections, he said. “I don’t care who you are, getting started with insulin injections is daunting. You are sticking a sharp object into your tissue. If we can make this process easier, we can improve people’s quality of life.”
This article was adapted from an original story by David Tenenbaum, which was provided by UW-Madison.