A pointed piece of surgical steel encased in plastic, used to
puncture the skin on one’s finger (or other body part) to get a
blood sample. Other types of lancets are used for making small
incisions, as in the draining of boils and abscesses. Lancets
for blood sampling are available in different gauges, which
refer to the width of the metal point. The higher the gauge, the
smaller the perforation the lancet makes. For example, a
23-gauge lancet makes a larger hole in your skin than a 30-gauge
lancet does. Some people find the higher-gauge lancets less
painful to use, but the trade-off is that it may be harder to
get an adequate drop of blood with a higher-gauge lancet. While
some people simply use a lancet alone to stick their fingers,
many people prefer to use a lancing device. A lancing device
uses a spring to drive the lancet into the skin and retract it
very quickly. It also allows the user to change the depth of
penetration depending on the thickness of the skin and calluses
and the sensitivity of the fi