The appearance of beads after insulin injections generally refers to the occurrence of needle tip leakage or injection site leakage after insulin injections, which may be caused by the needle remaining under the skin for too short a time.
The incidence of leakage increases if the patient has lipoatrophy or is injecting at a site of lipoatrophy, if the needle is not held subcutaneously for 10 seconds after injection, or if proper injection site rotation is not performed. Studies have shown that the longer the needle stays under the skin after fully pressing the thumb button, the fewer leaks reported by patients using insulin injection pens.
When this occurs patients are advised to keep the needle under the skin longer during insulin injections as appropriate. Diabetic patients who need to use insulin injections should be treated with medication under the supervision of a physician.