Leaks during fertility drug injections | Progyny

Updated by the Progyny Clinical Team — June 2025.

Fertility medicine often requires giving yourself at-home injections. If you’re not used to giving yourself a shot, you may be worried if you see blood or medicine leaking from the injection site.

Some people wonder if these leaks mean that they’re doing something wrong. When removing the needle from the injection site, you can expect one of three things:

• Nothing
• A small drop of blood
• A small drop of medicine

Over the course of doing daily injections, you may experience all three scenarios. None of them are a cause for concern — leaks don’t mean the whole dose is lost. Any visible leaks are likely a very small amount that won’t affect its efficacy. For example:

• If you see blood at the injection site after the needle is removed, you likely nicked a small blood vessel at or below the skin surface. The blood is just following the needle back out to the surface.
• If you see a drop of medication after the needle is removed, it’s only the medication following the needle back out to the surface.

Here are a few tips that may help:

• Release the skin pinch once you have the needle in your skin, before you inject.
• Once you have injected the medication into the skin, count to five before removing the needle.
• Apply gentle pressure with a gauze pad over the injection site as you remove the needle from your skin and hold it for about 10 seconds. The gauze helps seal the punctured tissue and prevents leakage.
• Rotate injection sites from day to day. This will keep the skin healthy and prevent scarring or hardening of fatty tissue that may decrease absorption of medication.

Summary

It’s OK to see a small drop of blood or medication after an injection. It doesn’t mean you did anything wrong or lost your full dose. These minor leaks are common and not a cause for concern. To reduce the chance of leakage, release the skin pinch before injecting, count to five before removing the needle, apply gentle pressure afterward, and rotate injection sites daily.

If you consistently see a lot of medication leaking or have injection site pain, swelling, or rash, call your clinic to be safe.

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Disclaimer: The information provided by Progyny is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical guidance.