Vial cap particles drawn into syringe

[Dapperduane]

Has anyone ever noticed a tiny bit of the synthetic rubber floating inside their syringe after piercing the vial with a needle. I've seen it so many times that I've decided to snap some pictures (It's easiest to see in the propofol syringe). I've seen this mostly with blunt needle access and only rarely with a sharp 18g needle.

 

[Dapperduane]

 

[Dapperduane]

Usually the particle sticks to the sidewall and then I carefully push the syringe as I keep an eye on it. With the propofol I was able to squirt it back into the vial. I presume the particles are just swallowed up by tissue somewhere in the body (lungs), I hope they don't cause some kind of immune reaction.

 

[Dapperduane]

Here's another that happened to me just a couple days ago... the speck at about 0.5ml. I only needed 5ml so I injected slow and made sure it stayed put.

 

[Dapperduane]

This was today! I drew up two sticks of 10ml propofol and noticed each access left two dots of rubber...

 

[Dapperduane]

Those last two were with a sharp 18# hypo.