What's the best way to remove a foreign object?
By Woodpigeon
@Woodpigeon (3710)
Ireland
May 15, 2007 5:50am CST
Let me clarify: I don't have any splinters, glass or other foreign objects that I personally need to remove at the moment. When I get a splinter, my method is to get the little devil out straight away while it is still 'grabbable'.
The reason I ask this is that every year as the weather warms up we start going barefoot and are outside doing lots of activities. I hate having to dig splinters and glass out of my kids, and they hate it too.
Can anyone tell me what is the best method? Do you have a foreign object horror story?
I once stepped on a toothpick that went all the way into my foot, but luckily there was enough of it sticking out to be able to pull it free. Another time I stepped ona nail, but like the toothpick I was able to get it out. My problem is with glass and tuny bits of wood. How are you supposed to get tha out of a squirming child?
7 people like this
13 responses
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
15 May 07
if there is still a bit sticking out, slap some duct tape on it & pull off slowly - in the opposit direction that you think it went in so that if its in at an angle, you are pulling it out at the same angle. Since I don't have kids I don't know if it actually works, but I've heard it does.
3 people like this
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
15 May 07
That would work well too, wouldn't it? What that would really be good for is bee stings, I bet. I am always afraid of squeezing even more venom into them while trying to get it out and that seems an ideal method. Thanks!
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
15 May 07
Actually, for a bee sting, the edge of a credit card, pushing it out the way it came in is the best. I've heard this both on TV & was told so by my allergist. IF your kids get bee stung, put some lighter fluid or gasoline on the sting too - it helps nutralize the poison - again from the allergist. Might not feel so great - I haven't ever been stung, but nothing's going live in that stuff anyway so it isn't going to infect the wound.
2 people like this
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
15 May 07
That is really great information, thank yo so much!
1 person likes this
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
15 May 07
I normally just cry for Daddy to help me. Then he will squeeze the area around the foreign object and try to force it out. It may take some work but it usually works.
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
15 May 07
That sounds so painful! Don't you run and scream and flap and try to escape?
2 people like this
@recycledgoth (9894)
•
15 May 07
My first reaction is to haul out my trusty tweezers, so I can at least attempt to pull the wretched thing out. It's not so easy with a squirming child however, so a distraction is always useful, or maybe a bribe.
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
15 May 07
I get them out straight away too, because once you loose the grabbable edge it becomes so much harder to go in after it. That is the trouble with kids, sometimes they don't want to say anythng because they think it will be straight for the needle when you are still at the tweezer stage, and then you miss your chance.
1 person likes this
@whyaskq (7523)
• Singapore
15 May 07
When I was small, it would always be wood splinters. If it was visible, I will pull it out. Sometimes, I used the nail clipper to try to get it out if I cannot pull it out using my hand. lol. it works sometimes. and sometimes, the visible part just gets chipped off. Or it gets deeper the more I try to remove it myself. When that happens, it is mum to my help. She will use a needle to try to get it out while pressing the surronding.
Now thinking back, perhaps soaking the infected part with warm water may help. Or use vinegar to wash it.
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
15 May 07
I remember my mother soaking my foot as well, before going in with the needle. She never seemed to mind doing it as much as I do!
1 person likes this
@dragonokiefly (862)
• United States
15 May 07
I have used the duct tape method and it works great! When I didn't have duct tape we used white glue. Put it over the splinter (wood or glass) don't rub it like you would if you were trying to glue something but kinda pat it down over the spot. Let it dry and peal it away. My kids love this method.
2 people like this
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
15 May 07
That is so great! I never heard of such a thing. Glad I brought it up, and thanks!
1 person likes this
@castleghost (1304)
• United States
15 May 07
We keep a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass a vailable for such occasions. There have been a few times where we just couldn't get the object out. My girlfriend will place a band-aid on it and leave it alone for a day or two. The body will try to push the obeject out. She will then open the skin up enough to remove the object.
2 people like this
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
15 May 07
That is the method mykids prefer, too, and truth be told I hate taking a needle to them. It is such a miserable experience for all involved.
2 people like this
@castleghost (1304)
• United States
15 May 07
Her parents always used a needle, she hated it. So she came up with this method . It works well for the children.
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@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
15 May 07
Yeah, I have a couple of Lordwarwizzards on my hands, so the less surgical intervention, the better! One of these days, when they are in the mids of their case of 'vapours' I am going to have one of them swoon on me.
1 person likes this
@lkbooi (16070)
• Malaysia
18 May 07
This was happened When I was teens. That afternoon I was plucking mangosteen using a bamboo pole looking up the tall tree at my classmate’s house yard. Suddenly there was a great pain to my left eye and I couldn’t open my eye. I screamed with pain and fear. My classmate’s auntie rushed out and took me to the kitchen immediately. After gargled with a glass of water she got me to face her and removed the foreign object out of my left eye with her tongue. She showed me the foreign object that lying on her palm. It was tiny splinter of dry tree bark.
1 person likes this
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
16 May 07
Gosh, we have swuch a prevelence of MRSA in our hospitals that it would have to be a big, bad splinter before I would dare entering a hospital with an open wound. I think I'd take my chances with tweezers and a pin and a lighter here at home.
@killahclaire (3665)
•
16 May 07
I always get here too late!
My method is putting a bandaid (or plaster as I call them) over the splinter as if the splinter is cut. Not the stink bit on the splinter but the padded bit..leave over nigth and in the morning it will literally just fall out.
Thats the method I have always used and it seems to work.
Other than that I end up getting tweezers and ripping off half my skin, getting a big cut and then it gets infected and the bloody thing is still inside.
Do you want to know the scottish name for a splinter. A SKELF!
1 person likes this
@killahclaire (3665)
•
16 May 07
Are you messing with me? Is that sarcasm?
have you tried that in the past and you don't htink it works cos it has worked for me!
1 person likes this
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
16 May 07
I am not mesing with you! I seriously never heard of it. My mother was a 'go for the painful and involved home surgery' type, so there was no option of the kinder, gentler plaster option!
1 person likes this
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
16 May 07
And to think for all these years I have been soaking and gougng when all I had to do was apply some glue or bandaids.
Skelf. Huh. I will have to try to remember that!
1 person likes this
@66jerseygirl (3877)
• United States
18 May 07
I was gonna say duct tape but it looks like some members beat me to it,lol!
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
17 May 07
on a child that is not cooperative you can try a piece of good tape - lay it on, smoosh it over the area and peel it off. This will sometimes take the splinter up with it.
I have heard of using glue, letting it dry on and then peeling it off, but have not tried this.
my own prefered method is to push up on the flesh at the hidden end of the splinter and if that does not work then I will heat up a sewing needle and poke at and cut away the skin ontop of the splinter.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
19 May 07
depends on what it is.soaking it gets a lot out.
wax works good on cactus needles-unfortunetly,i can tell you that one from experience.jumping cholla cactus are nasty individuals.
my dad used to steelwork..and he'd get these tiny steel splinters.he tried everything to get them out-it seemed they had to work themselves out natually.
looked mighty painful,though.
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
20 May 07
ye-ouch!
i'm surprised it didn't color the scar also :(
that sounds like it stung something fierce.
@Woodpigeon (3710)
• Ireland
19 May 07
That sounds mighty painful!
It isn't the same as it wasn't a splinter, but years ago I was helping tar up some seems and in the process cut my arm quite badly with the putty knife- which was covered in tar. Lucky me, my cut was also full of tar. Soap doesn't get rid of tar, we would splash on some gasoline to ge rid of it, then wash. You guessed it, I had to use gas in the open wound to get the tar out. I have always assumed that was why that particulr cut scarred so badly. Nasty stuff.
1 person likes this
@KarenO52 (2950)
• United States
16 May 07
My husband used to be real good at getting splinters out with the point of a sharp knife. He was so good and fast at it that the kids never felt anything, and he would get the whole thing out. It wouldn't be so easy with a squriming child, I guess someone would have to distract them somehow while the operation is going on. I used to tell the kids not to look, and keep them busy while my husband did the removal.
