Opened BAC water vial by mistake — should I toss it?

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Pin&Play

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Newbie question incoming.

I've been injecting for months with no problems, but this morning I messed up and "broke" my BAC water vial — I pushed too hard and the rubber stopper came off. Dumb error.

I went ahead and mixed a few vials right away, figuring it was no big deal.

Then I ran it by AI, and it said something like even 1 second of exposure to open air means a high contamination risk. Now I'm second-guessing myself:

1) Months back, I got BPC from a clinic, and the doctor handed me saline water for reconstitution. That saline has no rubber protection at all. So going by that same reasoning, what I did per my doctor's instructions was far riskier (saline has no alcohol), especially after I opened it and left the mixed vial in the fridge for a week.

2) People commonly draw air into the syringe and shoot it into the vial to balance pressure, so pulling the right number of units is easier. Doesn't that mean all of us are pushing bacteria-laden air in when we do that?
 
To be honest, if the rubber stopper never came into contact with anything or picked up contamination, I wouldn’t stress over it. When it was only removed briefly, chances are there’s no problem.... just give it a thorough alcohol wipe prior to drawing from it. With subq injections, the infection risk is already quite low provided your technique stays clean.

That reflects how much risk I’m willing to accept; your own may not match.
 
Availability varies a lot depending on which country you're in, I get that.

Hospira is basically the only brand I touch. Were it me with a vial mishap like that, I'd bin it and start a fresh one.
 
For my part, I wouldn’t be concerned. The alcohol is already included in it to prevent microbes from growing. If it’s transparent and appears as it should, I’d keep using it until it’s empty. Once a stopper came off an unconstituted vial for me, and I simply pushed it back into place and continued using Bac water like nothing happened. My reasoning was that if any airborne germ drifted in, the alcohol would eliminate it.

Naturally, though, each person is different and you take on the risk yourself.
 
RetCurious said:

Running it through a filter should take care of nearly all the contaminants that might have gotten in or were present from the start.

You do filter, don't you? 😉

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmz4241qPn4
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To be upfront, filtering was one of those things I'd constantly come across but never bothered to investigate, since I assumed it would be a hassle or take too long...

After watching that video, though, it turns out to be really straightforward. Thanks for sharing it!
 
tubby said:

Kids today must be going soft, asking questions like that!
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Fair point — I'm a kid of the modern era, so unlike you lot I never built up my immune system by rolling around in the dirt as a teenager! 😂
 
Pin&Play said:

tubby said:

Kids today must be going soft, asking questions like that!
Click to expand...
Fair point — I'm a kid of the modern era, so unlike you lot I never built up my immune system by rolling around in the dirt as a teenager! 😂
Click to expand...

Back then we'd get cuts and scrapes and knees dripping blood constantly, and nobody went around wiping the rocks or branches with alcohol pads before they sliced us open.

Now your crowd is losing it over a few seconds of air touching highly purified water that already has an antibacterial compound in it.

We are not the same! 🤣
 
tubby said:

Pin&Play said:

tubby said:

Kids today must be going soft, asking questions like that!
Click to expand...
Fair point — I'm a kid of the modern era, so unlike you lot I never built up my immune system by rolling around in the dirt as a teenager! 😂
Click to expand...

Back then we'd get cuts and scrapes and knees dripping blood constantly, and nobody went around wiping the rocks or branches with alcohol pads before they sliced us open.

Now your crowd is losing it over a few seconds of air touching highly purified water that already has an antibacterial compound in it.

We are not the same! 🤣
Click to expand...
I come from that same generation. To be fair, the thought never crossed my mind that pinning is trivial next to spending half a day out in the woods picking wild blackberries.
 
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