When you get a shot, like a flu or COVID vaccination for example, they typically put it in your upper arm or your thigh. Are they just sort of injecting it into the muscle? Or into a vein? Either way, where does it *go*?
I have seen videos of when people get things like local anesthetic where the skin starts to balloon out where they put the liquid. Does that sort of thing happen just deeper in the body? I know our body is mostly liquid but does it just absorb? Maybe redistributed ?
In: Biology
The body will (eventually) absorb the injected medicine into the bloodstream. The medicine passes into the network of blood vessels and is circulated in the body.
There are different types of injections, for different purposes. In general, how an injection is delivered impacts how fast the medicine is absorbed into the bloodstream — and thus the rate at which its effects are felt.
1. Injection directly into bloodstream (vein) — eg; certain antibiotics
2. Injection into deep muscle area — eg; tetanus shot
3. Injection under the skin layer — eg; insulin
4. Injection just under the top layer of skin — eg; testing for tuberculosis
These are listed from fastest to slowest.
There are other kinds of injections for more specialized purposes / reasons, but these are some common ones.
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