Genteel Lancing Device Review: Pain Free Diabetes Glucose Testing

Okay, full disclosure. My name is Dr. Jacobs and I invented the Genteel Lancing Device. Genteel has been established since 2014, and our amazing customer service team has spoken to literally thousands of customers - both pre-purchase and after sale - from “your product has changed my life” to “meh, it doesn’t work; I’m sending it back.” Our team has heard it all.  

If you don’t already know about Genteel (where have you been?), and hearing about it for the first time, it’s a lancer (or more accurately, as I insist, a vacuum blood-draw device) that’s engineered to eliminate the pain and anxiety of blood sugar pokes. It works by controlling lancing depth to ensure the lancet only reaches the top of the capillaries, not the pain nerves (no pain nerves, no pain), then the vacuum instantly pulls up the blood drop faster than you can say “I didn’t feel a thing!”

Skip To:

• Why You Should Buy A Genteel Lancing Device
• How To Use Genteel Lancing Device
• Alternate Blood Sugar Testing Sites
• Glucose Meter for Dogs & Pets
• How to Troubleshoot
• Final Thoughts

Why You Should Buy A Genteel Lancing Device

So, Pre-Purchase Disclosure:

• Genteel is BIGGER than a conventional lancer
• Genteel can be LOUDER than a conventional lancer
• Genteel is more EXPENSIVE than a conventional lancer
• Unlike conventional lancers, Genteel requires a SMALL LEARNING CURVE to optimize the technology

So why should you buy it? Because it is NOT a conventional lancer. FULL STOP. If you’re currently using a lancing device, and pain and anxiety are not an issue for you, consider yourself fortunate and read no further. However, if you HATE testing your blood, and avoid it like the plague (you already know you’re in trouble from your doctor and the consequences of not testing), then keep reading.

The reason for all four bullet points above is VACUUM, and it’s a game-changer! There’s no other lancing device that uses that technology (think of how effective your vacuum cleaner is or drinking soda through a straw). The vacuum pulls up liquid, and it works every time.

• Genteel is bigger because it has to be. You can’t generate a vacuum in a lancer the size of a pen (there’s a piston that moves up and down inside the vacuum chamber and it needs room!).
• Genteel can be a bit louder because a vacuum is not silent (again, think of your vacuum cleaner or drinking through a straw).
• Genteel is more expensive because we pay more for our parts and labor, and you get a great product that lasts many years. It’s WORTH IT! Simple!
• Genteel is more complicated to use—YES and NO. To get all the benefits requires a bit of trial and error. Here’s our tutorial. #1 Determine which Contact Tip is optimal for your body site (a 1X test). #2 Optimize the vacuum by allowing it at least 5 seconds to bring up the blood drop.

THAT’S IT!

As David Mendosa, the leading Type 2 diabetes advocate and writer for HealthCentral for 12 years, once said about Genteel, “What price is your pain worth?”

Check out the video below to see REAL user's reactions after they use a Genteel Lancing Device.

How To Use Genteel Lancing Device

Now, After-Purchase Disclosure, or what customers say when they can’t get the device to work, or it doesn’t work as they thought so they want to return it.

FIRST, PLEASE READ OUR INSTRUCTIONS OR WATCH OUR TUTORIAL BEFORE YOU USE THE PRODUCT. The URL is printed on the Red Tag hanging from your Genteel when you take it out of the box. It’s there for a reason! We invested a lot of time in our tutorial so you can “hit the ground running.” Sometimes, watching it once is enough; sometimes it’s not.

Ok, so you’ve purchased your Genteel from Rehabmart.com, and something is going wrong and you need help, we are available to assist! We can usually diagnose the problem immediately and offer a quick fix, so you’ll have no downtime. If not, we have a 120-day money-back guarantee and 1 year manufacturers replacement warranty, so you’re completely covered.

Alternate Blood Sugar Testing Sites

Regarding body sides, palms match fingers in real time readings, and offer significant advantages over fingers, with less pain nerves and more surface area. Anywhere else on the body works equally well, such as forearm, shoulder, abdomen, thigh, and especially one inch above the knee! Those are all considered alternate sites, so it’s important to monitor changes to your blood sugar on those sites. If it’s changing rapidly, especially after eating, exercising, taking meds, or not quite feeling yourself, readings on alternate sites can take 15 to 20 minutes to catch up to palms and fingers. Else, if your blood sugar is in a steady state, such as first thing in the morning , or if you’ve been a couch potato for a couple of hours, reading should be very close to palms and fingers. Check out the video above, which demonstrates how to select the best contact tip.

Glucose Meter for Dogs & Pets

People often ask if Genteel can be used on dogs. The answer is yes, Genteel can absolutely be used on pets! In fact, there are as many, if not more, pets with diabetes than people. Having an easy-to-use glucose meter at home is the best way to manage your pet's diabetes. Just like using Genteel on people, it is also pain-free for pets (*wags tail*). It takes the stress and anxiety out of not knowing your pet's levels, painful blood draws, and potentially emergency vet visits.

Because Genteel uses vacuum, it's very effective on both people and pets because of its ability to draw a blood drop from the capillaries without pain (the vacuum just pulls it up--think of a vacuum or drinking through a straw), whereas a conventional lancer, without vacuum, would be unable to without pushing very deep into the skin, causing both pain and an imperfect draw.

With cats, the best test site is the ear. With dogs, you can draw from the inside of the upper lip, elbow callus, carpal pad, or a shaved area above or on the top of the tail (shaving is important because it ensures a tight vacuum seal and keeps the area free of dirt so it does not contaminate the blood drop). As long as the test site can be completely enclosed by the Contact Tip so no vacuum leaks out, there should be no problem.

Some dogs have thicker skin, or deeper capillaries, than people, so it may be necessary to use Genteel's thinnest Contact Tips (Orange or Violet), and lower gauge lancet to ensure the proper penetration. In most cases, our variable gauge Butterfly Touch Lancets (30 to 36) are ideal, and they are sold on RehabMart. But if a deeper penetration is necessary, Advocate makes a 21 gauge lancet which is designed especially for pets.

To bring blood up to the surface of the skin faster, try warming the test site first by using a rice sock, warm compress, rubbing/patting the area, or simply pumping Genteel up and down (not side to side) while in the draw phase, ensuring the vacuum seal is not broken.

How to Troubleshoot

Here are the four most common complaints we get and how to easily prevent or resolve them: 

#1 Troubleshoot

Make sure to clean your Genteel peridically to maintain optimal vacuum

If not:

• You may experience discomfort when you never had it before
• The back Push Cap keeps rising up and won’t latch
• You’re now unable to get any or enough blood

In all three cases, the back rod will rise up all the way, showing the red stripe, while you finger remains on the Activation Button. This means you’ve lost vacuum. 

#2 Troubleshoot

Make sure you position the contact tip correctly on the top of the nozzle

The flat side goes against your skin; the indented/grooved side wraps around the top of the Nozzle. Doing this backward will result in no depth control and you may experience discomfort.

#3 Troubleshoot

After you see the blood drop, make sure you take your finger off the activation button before you take the Genteel off your skin

Else, the blood drop will spray inside the Nozzle because the vacuum is continuing to work.

#4 Troubleshoot

Make sure you do not remove or clean the nozzle or vacuum o-rings with anything other than dry-finger-wipes or running water

And especially do not use any chemicals or alcohol, as this can dry out the O-Rings and the internal parts will no longer work. 

Final Thoughts

I promise that if you follow our instructions and patiently experiment to find the right Contact Tip, body site, and how the vacuum works, you’ll have an amazing, pain- and trouble-free blood-draw experience unlike anything you’ve known before. I’ve spoken to enough happy customers to know how life-changing the Genteel PLUS Lancing Device can be, and those few tips and techniques I’m suggesting can make all the difference.

RehabMart has more articles on their free, educational platform called Caregiver University. Check it out if you are interested in reading more product reviews, advice on aging in place, and how to choose the best medical products. Thanks for reading!