Diabetic Dabs Review: Creating Better Habits

Let's face it, diabetes is messy, in multiple ways. If you have T1D or are the parent of a T1D, you know that between test strips, alcohol wipes, smarties wrappers, empty juice boxes, used needles, and blood, our diabetes bags tend to be a complete mess. One of my worst diabetes habits is the way that I handle my bloody fingers. This is going to sound nasty to my non T1D readers, but my T1D readers will totally understand. Here are a few ways I tend to handle my bloody fingers after testing my blood sugar: wiping it on my diabetes bag/meter case, wiping it on my clothes, licking my finger (*cringe*), or just rubbing my fingers together and leaving blood stained fingers. Could I use alcohol swabs? Absolutely. But, those little things are all wrapped up in a package and have to be opened, leaving a little extra trash to find a place for. Alcohol swabs also tend to dry out my skin. In 9 months of living with T1D, I have developed some pretty bad habits, but I am working to break those habits with a product I have found, Diabetic Dabs.

Diabetic Dabs are a product dreamed up and created by Liz Sacco, mom to David who was diagnosed with T1D in 2011. Liz, like most of us, was trying to find a way to clean fingers better after blood glucose testing and thus she developed Diabetic Dabs. You can read more of her story here. Liz was kind enough to send me some of her product to test out and review, here are my thoughts on it.

Diabetic Dabs come in a package as pictured and there are 4 sets of Dabs in each pack. The Dabs I received are square but they also come in a heart shaped option. Each sheet has an optional adhesive on the back so that they can be stuck to a meter case. I chose not to use the adhesive because I keep my meter and supplies in a small makeup bag. Each dab is thin, alcohol swab sized, and soft.

Initially, I did not realize it is recommended to remove each individual sheet from the bunch before using and I wasted a few dabs because my blood soaked through. Another issue I ran into initially was breaking my bad habit. I would pull a Dab out before testing but I would always forget and lick my finger instead. Once I made it habit to use the Dabs and use them correctly, I was able to really see how well they worked.

First, these little things are SO soft! Alcohol swabs are great, but they tend to dry the skin on my fingers out whereas dabs are soft and dry so this is not an issue. Next, they are very small and create very little trash. They are also easy to tear off from the bunch, which makes them easy to access. Another plus is that a portion of every sale is donated to diabetes research. Finally, the most important part and my reason for trying these, they have created much better habits for me when testing. I found in my few weeks of using this product that my clothes were no longer blood stained, my new diabetes bag had zero stains, and I was no longer licking my fingers to get them clean.

All in all, I think Diabetic Dabs are a great product. If you are willing to make the change and create new habits, this is a great product to try. You can put the alcohol swabs away and quit licking your bloody fingers. Thank you Liz for sending me your product to try, I will definitely be ordering more in the near future!

-Ashlyn





*Note- this product was sent to me at no cost for the purpose of this review.*