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The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II: Splinters

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Splinters

Getting a splinter can be a real thorn in your side. And unfortunately, trying to remove it can often be just as troublesome. All that digging around with a needle can smart like the dickens and make mincemeat of even the toughest hide. And besides causing pain, that tiny splinter of wood (or sliver of glass or metal) can also cause infection if it's not removed cleanly and carefully.

Here's what the pros recommend for painless splinter removal, to keep that itsy-bitsy invader from causing mightier problems.

Let warm water do the work. Before you go probing for that splinter with a needle, give the affected area a good soak. "Often a 10- to 15-minute soak in warm water will cause the wood to swell, which causes the splinter to pop out on its own," says Marian H. Putnam, M.D., a pediatrician in Boston and clinical instructor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine.

Ice away the pain. If a warm soak doesn't do the trick, try putting an ice cube on the splinter "Many people claim that it numbs the area, so it doesn't hurt as much when they try to remove the splinter," says Kathy Lillis, M.D., a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children's Hospital of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York.

When to See the Doctor

Although most splinters can be treated at home, there are times when a doctor's expertise is needed.

"If the splinter is deeply embedded or occurs in a sensitive area such as the face or underneath a nail, I think it's best handled by a doctor," says Kathy Lillis, M.D., a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children's Hospital of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York. "Or if a child has a splinter and is extremely terrified, it's probably better to have a doctor remove it, even if it's a small splinter." The pediatrician may be able to give a local anesthetic before removing the splinter, she points out.

Get the right tweezers. If you must remove the splinter the old-fashioned way--by digging it out with a pair of tweezers--make sure you have the right tools for the job, says Dr. Lillis. "You should have tweezers with ridged edges, which are available at most drugstores. And you can grip more easily if they have flat ends, as opposed to curved ones."

Cleanse those tweezers. Always wash tweezers in isopropyl rubbing alcohol before you use them, doctors say. You should then apply a liberal dose of hydrogen peroxide to the splinter itself. "The peroxide helps clean the wound to prevent any infection, and it can wash away any flecks of debris, so you'll have a cleaner removal," says Dr. Putnam. After removing the splinter, wash the area with hydrogen peroxide, then with a liquid hand soap.

Give yourself a facial. If you have a few cactus plants on your windowsill, you've probably gotten a spine in your skin more than once. A mask of gel should help get it out. 'Just spread the gel over the area. When it dries, you can peel it off like a sheet--and the cactus spine usually comes right out," according to Dr. Putnam. In some cases, several applications of gel may be needed. A really stubborn spine may require tweezers to remove. While the mask technique works well for cactus needles, she adds that it may not remove other splinters as easily. (Glue, incidentally, is not a recommended method of removing cactus spines or splinters, according to Dr. Putnam.)

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