Sawyer Products B4 Venom Extractor & Suction Pump Kit for Snake Bite, & Bee, Wasp, and Mosquito Stings

Even though I have just ordered this venom extracting device and I'm not sure if I will have an opportunity to try this device at all, I still decided to give it five stars because of the ability of this device to extract venom from a bite is undeniable and I like the design of pressing down the plunger to create suction, which required one hand only, instead of pulling up the plunger, which requires two hands.I know some "reviewers" have given this device one star only by "citing" the very poor results from a study conducted by the Department of Emergency Medicine, University Medical Center, University of California, San Francisco, Fresno 93702, USA.However, I found the study cited to be very biased because in the study the Sawyer Extractor pump was applied AFTER A 3-MINUTE DELAY in all study samples.Because venom is carried by blood from the bite immediately to other parts of the body in case of snake bite, the slower a person starts to apply the extracting device, the further a large portion of the venom will be carried by blood away from the bite. Therefore, it is extremely important that the extracting device be applied as fast as possible. I found the 3-minute delay to be absurd and unreasonable if someone has the device handy when going on a trip with high risk of snake bite.In my opinion, sterilization of the bite wound is only for non-life-threatening insect bits. If I got bitten by a snake on a field trip, I would apply the extracting device as fast as I could without sterilization and shaving. Even for people with just some body hair, I would recommend no shaving because every second counts. Since there are two bite holes and one extractor only, I would let the extractor stay on each bite hole for no more than about 5 seconds initially, so that there would be no excessive delay on extracting venom from any of the two bite holes. If you let the extractor stay on one bite hole for 5 minutes before treating the other one, about half of the venom would be carried away from the bite already.I also find some people nitpicking to criticize the minor bruising which may be caused by the suction power after the device was applied. When someones life is at stake, it is foolish to worry about minor bruising caused by the treatment. When a doctor decides to cut off the fingers with gangrenes which start to spread on a patient's hands suffering from frost bite, I don't see the same fools criticize the treatment for causing harm to the patient. So stop nitpicking.To be fair, the study by the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California should have first established the average time required by a person to take out a Sawyer Extractor Pump Kit from a knapsack, open the kit, fit a suction cup on and apply the extractor on the lower leg. Of course,all persons involved in the study must be familiar with how to apply the device before the study. I estimate the time to be within one minute or less instead of the absurd and arbitrarily long delay of 3-minutes used in the study conducted by the Department of Emergency Medicine.If the researchers were being scientific, they should have conducted several tests with different delay times that include, half a minute, one minute, two minutes and three minutes. I believe that the effectiveness of the extractor would be much greater if the delay time is reduced to a more reasonable one.The comment section on the biased report says "Snakebite suction devices don't remove venom: they just suck." I'm appalled by the unscientific and disrespectful attitude of those researcher in making the comment or allowed it to be made on such an official report. When some venom has been found to have been removed even though just a little because of the study not being done with commonsense,it's a lie for them to say that the snakebite suction devices "don't" remove venom. I think their wrong attitude sucks. It's their wrong attitude that caused them to be biased against a mechanical device that works. I think they wrongly considered the suction device, which is easily and cheaply available without doctors' prescription, as a competition against their profession and emergency medicine they were studying.We should bear in mind that the Sawyer Extractor Pump Kit should not be viewed as a kit for the cure of snake bites. This device is only for reducing the amount of venom in the body so as to reduce the damage caused by the venom to the body before a medical facility can be found that can give antivenin injection to the patient. Only the antivenin is the real cure. Therefore, the disrespect of those researchers in saying the snakebite suction devices "suck" is very inappropriate and it's a sign of their having prejudice against this great device for initial treatment of snake bites.Google:How a $10 Purchase Saved a Man's Life After He Was Bitten by a RattlesnakeThe news article reported "the DOCTORS SAY his $10 purchase saved his life".Note that more than one doctor who treated the man came up with the same opinion, so prejudice of one doctor is not at issue. So never mind the biased study report by researchers in Department of Emergency Medicine cited above.The doctors who treated a man's rattlesnake bite have the final verdict. This device works and can help save someone's life. Use it as promptly as possible for best result.Update:I received the device yesterday. It is well-made and easy to use. However, I think the kid should include a narrow oval-shaped suction cup with length of suction opening about 2cm longer than the average distance between the bite holes of most snake bites so that venom can be extracted from both bite holes simultaneously if the cup fits. The oval-shaped cup should be available as spare part so that we don't have to buy another extractor pump to get one. However, I do understand that if the two bite holes are separated by a curved part of the body, then the oval-shaped suction cup may not be suitable.I did a test on how how long it took from the time of trying to get the extractor pump kid from a knapsack on my back by pretending I had just been bitten by a snake to the time of actually creating suction on my leg. It took only about half a minute. The test proves that the 3-minute delay in the biased study by the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, is very unreasonable. I believe the effectiveness of the device would have been found to be much greater if only half a minute delay was used.Update:Today I ordered two more Sawyer Extractor Pump kids. One for my family member as a gift. Another one for myself so that I have two of these extractors and in case I get bitten by a poisonous snake, I can extract poison from both bite holes almost simultaneously as soon as possible.

The Sawyer Extractor Pump Kit is king! Those old, outdated contraptions with the razor blade are terrible, and it surprises me that they're still manufactured today. Even more surprising is that stores carry them.Last summer I was bitten by a poisonous Hobo spider, and this pump saved me a trip to the ER. I was amazed at how powerful (yet painless) the pump is. I could clearly see the yellow venom being sucked out of the puncture wounds on my hand. Immediately afterwards, the skin discoloration and intense burning/itching from the bite were gone. The only evidence left was two small fang marks, which healed quickly.With the Extractor, you never cut the skin. You simply select one of four fittings (depending upon the size of the bite), plunk it onto the end of the syringe, pull the plunger all the way out, place it down over the bite, and PUSH the plunger in. At first it seems weird to be forcing all this air onto the bite. But once you've emptied the syringe, a powerful vacuum has been created which draws out the venom very effectively. It's so easy to use.TIP: While it's always ideal to extract venom immediately, sometimes a bite is discovered later, perhaps upon awaking in the morning. If the bite marks have scabbed over, scrape the tiny scabs OFF with your fingernail before extracting. The wound has to be open, not sealed, for the suction to work. After use, open the syringe all the way and allow to air out. Wash the removable tip thoroughly with soap and water, but do not submerge the syringe! (Experience speaking here... I fatally damaged one this way.)I've purchased and given several of these as gifts. The enclosed pamplet states that in addition to removing snake venom, this pump can also be used on bee stings and misquito bites. In a snake or spider bite situation, it's wise to seek medical attention. Sometimes, though, one may be in the backcountry where help is unavailable. At times like this, the Extractor could potentially save a life.___________________October 2013 UPDATE: I recently used my Extractor on another spider(?) bite, this time on my neck. It appears to have happened at home, though I never saw the arachnida. The bite was red, swollen larger than a quarter, and was burning and itchy. The Extractor sucked out the venom effortlessly, which took the swelling way down. By the following day, the redness was almost completely gone and the fang marks faded. Though this was in a sensitive place, it again healed very quickly. I've used the Extractor on many, many smaller bites over the past six years. Can't imagine life without it.

The media could not be loaded. It is hard to rate this one if you haven't been bitten by a snake, but if you get bitten and it doesn't work, you won't live to rate it so I decided to go ahead and talk about my limited experience with it.I did get bitten by a scorpion and the sawyer did extract the venom, I could actually see it zipping out of the wound, first a little stream of a yellowish ooze and then a little of blood at the end. It worked, I just got a small inflammation, almost like a mosquito bite.I have also used it to extract bot fly larvae and works great for that. The worm pups up like magic.The suction power is strong, you can actually apply this to a pimple and see the pus come out. (disgusting).I have kept one of this in my first aid kit for the last 8 years because I do outdoor training. If a customer gets a bee sting, I apply this and helps.I have heard and read that it is the only one that will actually work on a snake bite please read Mr. Jordan Benjamin's review before you believe that. Just keep it near you to use it immediately after the insect incident or the likes and It should help. I will continue to use this great product for insect bites and the likes, but not rely my life on it for Snake Bites.