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Sporner corner

If you want to see spot squeezing, popping or videos showing the removal of blackheads - this is the place for you.

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Original poster

What happens to a splinter that isn't get-outable?

18 replies

Silvercatowner · 16/12/2022 20:51

I'm fairly sure I have a small sliver of metal in my finger. I was doing some DIY a couple of weeks ago, involving shards of metal. My finger became very painful, then excrutiatingly painful. A small cut developed. It's now resolving very slowly. Nothing has come out, and (shameful admission for a sporner, I know), its FAR to painful for me to go rooting around. It's slightly red, very slightly swollen but not hot to the touch or anything.

What will happen if there is a bit of metal in there and it heals over? It's not going to travel and peirce vital organs, is it???

OP posts:

CheesenCrackersmm · 16/12/2022 20:53

I might be wrong but I thought the body tended to try and push these things to the surface. However I think that if there was something in there you would be able to tell

Schlaar · 16/12/2022 20:55

Your skin tends to heal around it and push it out. Keep pulling the cut open to force the contents out. If it doesn’t come out then eventually your body will form a scar around it and it’ll just stay there permanently.

FLOWER1982 · 16/12/2022 20:58

It should come out. My daughter had a big splinter in her foot that she wouldn’t let me touch. It did work it’s way out eventually.

LadyOfTheCanyon · 16/12/2022 21:07

Sporner 101: have you tried putting Mag Sulph on it?

willingtolearn · 16/12/2022 21:12

Skin cells are replaced layer by layer from the bottom upwards, so old skin cells at the top slough off.

If there's something in there it will be pushed upwards as new skin cells are replaced below it.

Also recommend Magnesium sulphate paste over the top of any suspected splinter.

museumum · 16/12/2022 21:18

Put a plaster over it to make the skin go soft and wrinkly. Usually then the body will push it to the surface in a few days.

Original poster

Silvercatowner · 16/12/2022 21:20

Thank you lovely spoorners. I'm looking forward to ... something ... making an appearance.

OP posts:

Urguth · 16/12/2022 21:24

I had a wooden splinter irretrievably lodged in my finger a few years ago.

it started to swell, went a bit red and sore then finally popped itself out on a delightful ooooze of pus. Very satisfying.

TheFormidableMrsC · 16/12/2022 23:31

Family folklore admittedly but I had a great Aunt who wouldn't let anybody touch a large splinter in her foot as a child and it eventually worked its way out some 50 years later. No supporting evidence, it was just one of those stories that we all knew about 🤷🏻‍♀️

stillvicarinatutu · 16/12/2022 23:35

My neighbours little girl stood on a cocktail stick but wouldn't let me touch it .

The tip of the stick fell out 3 weeks later .

Have you tried looking with a magnifying glass and a fine needle ?

I'd put something like germaline or magnesium paste on it and cover it with a plaster - could draw it out enough to see it and then use a fine needle to whip it out .

NeverDropYourMooncup · 16/12/2022 23:42

Worth going to a minor injuries unit for, as this potentially affects whether or not you can safely undergo an MRI at any point in the future.

An x Ray would show how deep it is/whether it needs to be removed urgently or surgically - and if it's that painful, you might need antibiotics.

Doubt it could travel to a major organ, but you don't want a deep-seated infection, either.

Is your tetanus up to date? That's something else to consider.

Original poster

Silvercatowner · 17/12/2022 16:46

I'm not going to go to minor injuries. I guess I'd be quite intrigued to see what my (possibly hypothetical) splinter might do in an MRI machine.

I am slightly disappointed that it seems to have stopped hurting. I've just found some mag sulphate paste so I'm going to put some of that on.

OP posts:

Bestcatmum · 17/12/2022 16:54

It gets covered in protective scar tissue and doesn't move.

LT2 · 17/12/2022 16:56

Pretty sure the body rejects it and it'll come out on its own. I've always been squeamish about splinters and would always leave them until they dropped out! So far they always have.

Murasakispillowbook · 17/12/2022 16:57

I have a tiny shard of glass in my finger from a table in a bar in Manchester in 2005! It healed over. It's never caused me any issues but I can feel it!

wheresmymojo · 17/12/2022 17:04

They don't always come out by themselves, although perhaps mine was different due to size.

The very end of a massive several inches long splinter stuck right into the middle of my finger. I tried to pull it out but the bit at the end just snapped off (it was probably fairly close to the bone).

Anyway, I just sort of shrugged and left it.
A year later my finger had got a horrible swollen part on it there but nothing was coming out. I had to have (very quick) surgery to open my finger up and fish it out.

Nat6999 · 29/12/2022 01:37

Soak it in Epsom Salts & the hottest water you can bear, it will draw it out. My mum got a thorn in her big toe after the hedge was cut, she soaked it & the thorn shot out in the water.

IamEarthymama · 25/02/2023 06:53

My late mother once had a very painful big toe, it was hot and swollen. She soaked her foot and tried to see what was wrong, to no avail.

20 odd or more years later, she was in her 80s, the chiropodist was very surprised to see a sewing needle emerge from down the side of her big toenail!

My mum put it in an envelope to show me when I visited. I was suitably impressed of course. Years later when she died I found that envelope labelled ‘needle from my big toe’ and it made me smile, bless her.

it May or may not be in my little collection of keepsakes. ☺️

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