tricky sliver suggestions??

[Walt Caza]

Good Day to the Creek,
I have a sliver in the crease of an inner knuckle bend of my finger.
It's the third day, and try as I may, I cannot seem to get it out.
It may be wood, or it may be glass.(?)

My hand is less usefull, and the finger slow to bend.
I have dug around with a pin, nail clippers and my LV tweezers to no avail.
I let it build up some green pus, hoping that a big squeeze might pop it out.
That has worked for me before...

I know in the old days they used Black Ointment, or Icthyol Salve with the
active ingredient being Ichthammol.
The pharmacist looked at me like I was from Mars.

I guess I'll keep soaking and trying to massage it out.
Anyone have any ideas or salve suggestions?
Tough to find any such thing in a Canadian pharmacy.

All thoughts appreciated,
Walt

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Walt,

I used to let things get pussy and then squeeze them out.

The last time I tried that.....a couple of years ago......I ended up in the ER with an IV in my arm for 3 days and returned to the ER each day for some mainlined antibiotics.

Don't fool around. Go see a doctor.

[Eric Gustafson]

That is what I use. I got it a the local Walgreens. Had to ask the pharmicist for it, as they do not put it on the shelf. No profit and and they sell so little. How about buying it online? Amazon or Ebay.

[michael osadchuk]

.....digging around with pin?

ouch! but I've done that and also have the LV tweezers.

Do you have an eye loupe magnifier? Often that has helped me to see the thing, identify what it is (wood, glass, etc.), how it is embedded.

Sometimes it is hard for the person with the splinter to remove the offender splinter so another person, with an eye loupe, might succeed.

Barring home remedy success we have universal health care in Canada: go to a walk in clinic.
I suspect a doctor has got some additional tools and approaches to care of this before it - or your efforts - lead to infection.

good luck

michael

[bill mullin]

Ken's advice is probably best, but..., being the stubborn type I am, the best do-it-yourself surgical tool I've found for this operation is a #11 Exacto hobby knife blade. Heat the tip with a lighter, soak in rubbing alcohol, put on the magnifying glasses, illuminate the subject, and go to it.

I feel your pain, a hundred times over.

[Wes Grass]

New #11 Exacto blade works the best for me. Just a bare blade. Much more sensitive without the handle.

Sharp edge will usually grab wood and metal. Hard to get a grip on glass though.

At the least get some Neosporin on it.

[Barry Vabeach]

Walt, Are you using the Lee Valley regular tweezer, or the magnifier http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,43456,43464

I have a couple of the magnifier tweezers and have pulle out really tiny slivers of wood and metal. If you don't have the magnifying one, I suggest you go to drug store to see if you can find one.

[Larry Fox]

+1 on the Exacto blade. I typically dig them out very gingerly and most times get lucky but sometimes have to cut them out.

[Larry Edgerton]

The vacuum pump pulls out a lot of mine. Otherwise I have a small kit I got from the Mac tool guy that has fine tweezers, so that and a fresh Exacto knife honed a bit.........

[george wilson]

I have some very pointed Dumont tweezers,and keep the tips of my pocket knives very sharp. My journeyman at the toolmaker's shop,Jon laubach,and I used to take out each other's splinters very skillfully. One day,a doctor friend of mine was in the shop. I had a splinter. He insisted upon taking it out "Oh,I'm very good at that". He was NOT!!! I'd much rather have had Jun remove the splinters!!

Sometimes,I had to use a 10X microscope when Jon would get a very tiny,and very sharp needle like steel chip in his finger. He had one that was in there for weeks. Finally,he had to have it out. I mean,that sliver was in there vertically,and very deep.

[Chris Barnett]

It can get much worse than what Ken said. Ditto get help!

[Brian Kent]

A friend of mine just lost a thumb because of an infection from a splinter. The infection somehow turned systemic and for awhile we thought we might lose Bob, and not just his thumb.

Play it careful.

[Paul Atkins]

I too have a sliver in the crease of my finger joint - been there for a couple of months and now I can't tell where it is exactly. Some day it will come to the surface I hope. I did remove a miniature half moon steel sliver that had gone into my eye while hot with a super magnet. There was a nice crescent mark in the white for a few days. I wasn't going to go towards my eye with tweezers or a pin.

[Rich Neighbarger]

Lopp it off. You have 9 others.

Seriously though, if it's bothering you that much, see a doctor.

[Daniel Kennedy]

It will eventually work itself out. The problem with eventually is that it can be a long time. My father had a piece of glass from a car accident stuck in his foot for 30 years. He was big on home surgery. He went so far as to pull out his own teeth when they were bothering him. I picked up an inclination to handle minor to moderate medical problems at home as well. Where I draw the line is when infection or the potential thereof sets in. If you are getting pus then I would go and see a doctor. he might be a butcher and pull out some extra meat with the splinter, but he will also probably prescribe you some antibiotics that will prevent major loss of body parts or life. In the mean time, get some antiseptic on there (alcohol, iodine, hydrogen peroxide).