Tiny glass splinter in foot

[Howlongtowait]

I have a tiny glass splinter in my foot. It hurts to walk on, and DP has just been digging around trying to get it out with no success just yet. He says a tiny bit of pus present. He keeps saying it will “expel” itself which is annoying the hell out of me.

Should we persevere, leave it alone, or head to the doctors?

Its probably worth an xray, and if there's pus, possibly antibiotics.

He's right that itll probably find it's own way out. Tiny shards of glass a fiendishly difficult to remove surgically and the scar is often as painful as the piece of glass.... If it's badly infected or near an important steucture like a tendon or joint.

Persevere … then doctor (non urgent)

Go for a hot bath, soak in it and let the foot skin soften up. You'll feel the hard glass as the skin softens. Use tweezers to try and get it out. Hope you get it out soon OP!

Could try a warm Epsom salt bath.

Try magnesium sulphate and apply a padded dressing to make it easier to walk. A lot of the time foreign bodies in feet that I see are actually just localised trauma from someone hoking at the site repeatedly and the body has already fallen out. I should say that if it didn’t show up on X-ray or was just super tiny, I wouldn’t be digging round to take it out either.
Definitely get yourself to a walk in or minor injuries tomorrow (you don’t need to go anywhere overnight if the ooze is just localised and you feel well in yourself) as you could do with an X-ray and maybe an antibiotic

Back last year, l had a splinter in my foot, was away when it happened (just in different part of the country) I rang 111, who said l was to wait for a phone call from a doctor, who would advise.3 hours later, dr rang back, advised to go to A&E, l went, waited 9 hours, didn’t get to see a nurse, in the end l gave up and went home, it was 1am, told l would be there for rest of the night.I couldn’t put any pressure on my foot, took a couple of weeks before l could walk properly, wasn’t able to get splinter out.
The reason why, l’m commenting, l can’t see how op would have a chance of having an x-ray, through the nhs.The difficulty is GP, won’t help, or A&E, at least that was my experience (obvs understand it’s not classed as an emergency, nevertheless, can be deeply embedded, without medical assistance impossible to get out) But if it gets infected, then, OP will yes, definitely need antibiotics, but unfortunately, have to manage the splinter by herself!
OP, hope you’re able to get it out🤞

I had a small chunk of glass in bed itself in my foot. I thought I'd got it oit but over the days it healed over yet I could feel a sharp pain. One night I woke up in pain and I just sat up and squeezed and squeezed and the thing shot out! Pus oozed out too. It was glorious! Instant relief

Aw my goodness, l can imagine the relief.
The one l had, just completely healed over.
Felt so strange though, for such a long time, just couldn’t get it out.

Oil takes out splinters. Any type of oil. So I'd be getting cheap bottles of sunflower oil in a bowl and soaking the foot for the evening.
Wrap it up for the night with a pad soaked in oil and covered in cling film. It had always worked for me and my kids. It should be out by morning.

I stepped on a bit of glass when we had just brought newborn DS3 home from hospital, he was about 3 days old, so I thought no way am I going to A&E. The glass was from an old door which had slammed and shattered months before.

I tried to get it out with tweezers with no luck but I was so exhausted I just gave up, and walked on the side of my foot. After a while it stopped hurting so much as callus/scar tissue formed all around it but it would still jab me every so often and annoy me, so every now and again I'd have a little dig at it and try to get it out. I was too embarrassed/couldn't be bothered to go to the doctors and explain. Eventually I progressed to a sewing needle and would pick at it periodically and sometimes get a bit of hard skin out which I'd think was the thing but it never would be.

Eventually about two years later (😱) I got brave enough to actually dig deep enough and found it. I still have the scar/a little bump of dead skin there, but it doesn't hurt any more.

I recommend the self surgery with a needle technique. It's probably best to try to sterilise the needle but I don't think I did It doesn't hurt anywhere near as much as I thought it would - you can feel with the needle when you find the glass shard and basically you have to dig out the dead skin around it to loosen it and then it will come out.

If it gets swollen or red then you are probably best getting proper medical advice as it may be infected and you don't want to mess around with infection.

Two years😂 There’s hope for me yet.

Thanks all!

Years ago I actually cut my foot on glass in a park, as it was bleeding a fair bit I did go to A&E who decided to X ray to check for glass (there was none.)

This time through it’s a tiny, tiny splinter. Really hard to even see it outside of the body! I know because I broke the glass and remember seeing these pieces which I thought is cleaned up 🥴

Wood is not radio opaque so unless it has lead type paint or treatment, it’s not visible on an XR. Glass however is.

I got something removed from my foot by a chiropodist, they did a great job. I didn't actually know I had something embedded in my foot, it was just hurting to step on it.

DD had a little bit of ceramic in her foot from a broken plate for a week before we took her to a&e and got it out.

Get the ring shaped plasters for corns so you don't put pressure on it.

And if there is pus, I'd go to a&e on a quiet day and take a good book and a whole lot of snacks for the wait.

you could try a hot foot bath and magnesium sulphate paste in a dressing overnight

A podiatry colleague of mine did a great job to remove a shard of glass from my foot. Kept going down with a scalpel until she got to the shard and was able to grab it. Had been so painful to walk on.
make an appointment. You need to see someone confident with a scalpel and feet.

⬆️epsom salt bath

When I was growing up in the 60's and 70's vast swathes of paving stones and playgrounds were replaced with some sort of tarmac/bitumen with stone chip dressing on top. When we inevitably either tripped or fell off bikes/roller skates/scooters and ended up with aforementioned chips embedded in our knees, a hefty spread of germoline, under a lint dressing for a couple of days, would pull the gravel out.

Mag sulph paste overnight with a dressing on the top should draw out a foreign body.

Try for a few nights in a row.

They’d probably use ultrasound wouldn’t they?
But I agree with the soaking advice.

Yes.I didn’t ask for an x-ray, or expect one.
My foot was really painful at the time, was just unsuccessful in getting splinter out.If it ever happened again, l would just see a podiatrist.