FrankTalk.org

Interesting, I may try this. However it will only save a few cents. I think the pliers need to be sterilized as well.

No problem -- the pliers touch only the outer ring -- the inner cover remained on the vial.

Just for S&G and the fact that I was just finishing a vial, I thought I'd give it a shot. The band holding down the rubber stopper is soft aluminum. I took a small sharp kitchen utility knife. I used the tip of the knife and hooked it under the bottom of the band at the neck of the vial. I then twisted the knife causing it to start a cut in the band. I then repositioned the knife and repeated, inlarging the cut. I then grabbed the cut band with my finger and peeled it off, with the stopper falling out as the band came off. I think I got 2 units out of the empty vial. It wasn't hard to do and took maybe 20 seconds to remove the band. I did salvage 2 units. I guess it's worth doing sometimes if you're frugal. It did save me from having to dig another vial out of the freezer as the 2 added units were enough to complete my dose.

I was at the end of a vial. Didn't know how much was left, but figured it was not a full dose. My wife, a former medical assistant, used the syringe properly to drain the vial. It turned out to only be about 10 units. So she got the rest, another 50 units, out of a new vial, into the same syringe for the shot.

It didn't save much, but it was easy the way she did it. I fumble with those syringes. I thought I had gotten the full 60 units out of the nearly done vial, but turned out I shot myself with air but didn't know it. Needless to say, that was a disaster.

The trick, so she told me, is to insert the needle into the upside-down vial, just a little to get what is at the bottom. Sounds easy, but not for me.