# Stronger pen lights?



## nomofica (Jan 1, 2010)

Anyone know of a good brand or set of penlights?

I keep breaking the metal clip on all my pupil gauge penlights...


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## MedicSqrl (Jan 6, 2010)

nomofica said:


> Anyone know of a good brand or set of penlights?
> 
> I keep breaking the metal clip on all my pupil gauge penlights...



welch allyn make a pen light that is durable. A medic I know bought one a yr ago and still has it.


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## nomofica (Jan 6, 2010)

MedicSqrl said:


> welch allyn make a pen light that is durable. A medic I know bought one a yr ago and still has it.



a bit expensive for something i'll most likely drop or misplace, knowing my habits.


but i guess you get what you pay for in the end of it all.


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## Tincanfireman (Jan 6, 2010)

Have a look at this one. Definitely on the pricey end of the scale, but gets rave reviews from most users.


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## EricCSU (Jan 9, 2010)

I like the flashlight on my belt.  Why carry a pen light when you already have a flashlight?

Eric


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## trevor1189 (Jan 9, 2010)

MedicSqrl said:


> welch allyn make a pen light that is durable. A medic I know bought one a yr ago and still has it.


Yeah that is what I was thinking of too. Very pricey but welch allyn is very good quality.


nomofica said:


> a bit expensive for something i'll most likely drop or misplace, knowing my habits.
> 
> 
> but i guess you get what you pay for in the end of it all.



Well you either spend the money for one expensive one or just throw out the cheap ones when they break. Those pupil gage ones are meant to be disposable.

Anyone actually use an led penlight? Have you ever looked into an led? I can't see using that on a Pt.'s pupils.


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## EMSLaw (Jan 9, 2010)

EricCSU said:


> I like the flashlight on my belt.  Why carry a pen light when you already have a flashlight?
> 
> Eric



Because a flashlight is too bright to shine into a patient's eyes to test their pupil response.


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## reaper (Jan 9, 2010)

Really?


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## trevor1189 (Jan 9, 2010)

reaper said:


> Really?



What is the really directed at? The thread or specific post? :unsure:


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## reaper (Jan 10, 2010)

a post


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## 18G (Jan 10, 2010)

I have read articles that stated a regular flashlight should not be used to assess pupils due to the brightness. Not sure why though.


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## EMSLaw (Jan 10, 2010)

reaper said:


> Really?



It would work, of course, but you'll leave your patient seeing spots.  Also, I've found that if the penlight is too bright, the patient tends to look away or try to close his or her eyes, which makes it hard to see if the pupils contract.  

I accidentally shined my LED mini-maglite in my eyes once, and I saw spots for twenty minutes.


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## reaper (Jan 10, 2010)

A pen light is to bright for direct use in the eyes. You should be bringing your light in from the side and looking for changes as the light is hitting the pupils. There is no reason to shine it directly in the eyes! A flashlight works well for this, if you know how to use it.


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## VFFforpeople (Jan 11, 2010)

trevor1189 said:


> Yeah that is what I was thinking of too. Very pricey but welch allyn is very good quality.
> 
> 
> Well you either spend the money for one expensive one or just throw out the cheap ones when they break. Those pupil gage ones are meant to be disposable.
> ...



I used an LED on a PT..they didn't like that so much and pretty much refused the rest of my care. I went back to regular bulbs.


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## nomofica (Jan 11, 2010)

reaper said:


> A pen light is to bright for direct use in the eyes. You should be bringing your light in from the side and looking for changes as the light is hitting the pupils. There is no reason to shine it directly in the eyes! A flashlight works well for this, if you know how to use it.



This is what I do if I have a brighter light. I once had to use an LEO's tac light to check the pt's pupil response.


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## resq330 (Jan 11, 2010)

Tincanfireman said:


> Have a look at this one. Definitely on the pricey end of the scale, but gets rave reviews from most users.




Yeah, these are great!  I've had two of them.  I carry mine in my pocket about every day.  Use it all the time for random things.  Well worth the money!  Only bad things is it uses AAAA batteries.  I had never even heard of these before I bought this light.  Its obviously not a very common battery.


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