General Question

marmoset's avatar

Small wood splinter, not infected or painful, totally submerged under the skin. Fine to wait and see what happens?

Asked by marmoset (1341points) January 21st, 2012 from iPhone

(Googling this produces surprisingly conflicting answers—some saying “wait and see” / some saying I must get it out.)

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

16 Answers

SpatzieLover's avatar

You should try to draw it out. If it’s far under hard skin, soak the area in warm water.

There are a variety of things that work to “get it out”.

My favorites: Tweezers & Duct Tape.

trailsillustrated's avatar

It’ll work itself out. And what @SpatzieLover said, if it’s very far in. If not, don’t worry.

zensky's avatar

Leave it.

Keep_on_running's avatar

I would also wait for it to come to the surface on its own, if it’s too painful to dig around and get it out yourself now.

digitalimpression's avatar

I used to get slivers as a kid all the time. I left them in, and eventually they just… disappeared. I never quite figured out where they went, but I’m still alive.

john65pennington's avatar

Spatzielover is correct. Warm water should make your skin softer and easier to remove the splinter. Use alcohol afterwards to be safe.

GladysMensch's avatar

I always dig em out. Burn the tip of a safety pin, grab some tweezers, and get to it.

marmoset's avatar

For the people who are saying I need to dig it out, do you know a reason that’s important? Thanks.

EverRose11's avatar

I always do what it takes to get it out , because with out fail it always seems when you least expect it to suddenly Flair up…..and you look down to where you feel pain all of a sudden and remember Oh Yeah I remember when I got that splinter…. by this tie it is usually swollen, red, possibly on the verge of getting infected… ; / That’s what I would do

marinelife's avatar

OK, this is going to sound weird, but it just worked for me. Put a piece of duct tape over the entry wound. Wait (I waited overnight) and then when you take it off the splinter should be stuck to the duct tape.

”* Place a piece of duct tape over the splinter and leave on for a half hour. Then slowly peel away. The splinter should come off with the tape.”

Natural News

SpatzieLover's avatar

^Yep. @marinelife That practice is precisely what we do here if we get a sliver of glass in our foot or hands, also. It works like a charm!

Tropical_Willie's avatar

What kind of wood? Several woods can be poisonous—treated wood for outdoors like a deck may have copper or arsenic in the preservative. The first wood I would worry about is Redwood, it has toxins in it. Also some fruit tress may cause a reaction from cyanide.

marmoset's avatar

Good point, Tropical Willie, but it’s been in for 48+ hours so I’m guessing I’ve done most of the absorbing I’ll do from it. It’s probably maple or some other common non-tropical wood it was from a light-colored, unfinished wine rack.

Tropical_Willie's avatar

It’s not just absorption, the redwood with cause a massive infection.

zensky's avatar

When in doubt, let the MD sort it out.

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