How to quickly remove a splinter and not earn new problems

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

To prevent a small splinter from becoming a big boil, get rid of it in five easy steps. It will hardly hurt.

Assess the extent of the damage before taking out the splinter. Go to your doctor and do not try it yourself if:

1. The wound is dirty, and the skin around it is reddened and throbbing.
2. The splinter is large and deep under the skin.
3. Splinter in a hard-to-reach or sensitive place: under the nail, in the eye or near it, on the mucous membranes.
4. This is an extraordinary case. For example, a poisonous plant has awarded you a thorn under your skin.

In traditional situations, when the splinter is a regular piece of wood, metal or glass stuck in the upper layers of the skin of your fingers, palms, or heels, follow the instructions.

Step 1. Prepare your tools

You will need tissue paper, a germicidal patch, tweezers, a safety pin or sewing needle, a bright light source, and a magnifying glass or glasses if the splinter is hard to see.

A syringe needle can be used instead of a sewing needle. It is already sterile and does not need disinfection.

If you don't have tweezers, find at least some scotch tape.

Step 2. Disinfect instruments and wound

Wash your hands with soap or an antiseptic. Treat the wound with chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, or an alcohol-containing solution. Dry the wounded area with a napkin so that the tweezers do not slip.

Disinfect the tweezers and needle with alcohol, an alcohol-based solution (such as strong alcohol), and an alcohol wipe. If you don't have anything alcoholic, but you have a lighter, use it: hold the needle over the fire until the tip turns red.

Step 3. Examine the splinter

Consider at what angle and how deep the splinter is. Do not squeeze the skin to squeeze out the foreign body: this can break the chip and drive it even deeper.

It is better not to touch small splinters that do not cause much discomfort: they will come to the surface of the skin on their own in a couple of days.

Step 4. Remove the splinter

If the tip of the splinter sticks out of the skin, pinch it with tweezers and pull it out at the same angle at which the chip entered the skin.

If the tip of the splinter is not visible on the surface, use a needle to pick up the skin. If the skin is rough and does not give in, steam it in a bath of baking soda or chamomile. Push the sliver with a needle and pull it out with tweezers.

Did not work out? Then it is better to see a doctor, and not to pick out the wound even more.

If there are no tweezers, and the scotch tape is right at hand, use it: not the most effective way, but, for example, it will cope with small thorns from a cactus. Apply masking tape to the injured area and pull.

Never use banana peels, birch tar, a mixture of vinegar and clay, potatoes or bacon to remove a splinter. This is unhygienic and can be dangerous.

Step 5. Disinfect the wound again

If the operation was successful, treat the wound with an antiseptic and cover with a bactericidal plaster. It, unlike a conventional adhesive plaster, not only protects against infection, but also speeds up the healing process.

If the wound does not heal, but, on the contrary, turns red, hurts, gives off fluid, do not tolerate it and run to the doctor!