Check the pen before you start
Before you touch the needle, check the medicine name, strength, expiry date and your prescribed dose. Look at the solution through the pen window and compare it with the description in the leaflet. Do not use a pen that looks abnormal or has been frozen. Make sure the pen is yours. Never share a pen, even with a different needle fitted.
Lay out the pen, a new compatible needle and an approved sharps container on a clean surface. Wash your hands. If poor eyesight, a tremor, stiff joints or fear of needles makes the steps hard, ask for help. Do not work around the problem with a home-made technique.
Fit the needle and do the flow check
Fit a new needle and take off both needle caps as the instructions show. Keep the outer cap, because you use it to remove the needle afterwards. Take off the inner cap too. If you leave it on, the dose may not go in.
Do a flow check before the first injection with each new FlexTouch pen. Follow the diagram and the troubleshooting steps exactly. Extra checks you do not need waste medicine. Skipping a required check may hide a delivery fault. If no drop appears after you follow the leaflet, ask the pharmacy.
Set and give your prescribed dose
Read the dose from the dose counter. Do not count clicks. Inject under the skin of your abdomen, thigh or upper arm. Move to a slightly different spot each week and avoid skin that is damaged or irritated. Wegovy does not go into a vein or a muscle.
With FlexTouch, keep the dose button pressed until the counter shows zero. Leave the needle in your skin while you count slowly to six, as the leaflet directs. Pull out too soon and some medicine may escape, leaving you unsure how much you received. If you think some was lost, do not inject a second full dose to make up for it.
After the injection
Take off and dispose of the needle using the manufacturer's safe sequence, then put the pen cap back on. Never store the pen with a needle attached. Write down the injection date and, for a new pen, the date you first used it. Store the pen within the temperature and time limits in the leaflet.
A small drop at the needle tip or a spot of blood on your skin does not mean the dose failed. If a lot leaked, the counter stopped above zero or the pen seemed faulty, call the dispensing team for advice before you inject again.
When to ask for hands-on help
A video helps only when it shows your device and the current instructions. A US single-use auto-injector demonstration does not apply to FlexTouch. A FlexTouch sequence does not apply to the 7.2 mg single-dose device either.
If injecting still makes you anxious, ask for a supervised practice session and talk through practical support. Getting the technique right matters more than getting faster. You want a reliable weekly dose and full confidence in each step you take.
Sources
Your own medicine leaflet and prescriber come first. A source from another country does not mean the same rule applies in the UK.
- Wegovy FlexTouch UK prescribing information medicines.org.uk
- Wegovy FlexTouch patient leaflet medicines.org.uk
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