Excavating slivers

[Tom Dunlap]

Yesterday I cleaned up an old brush pile for a client. When I picked up one armful I got a handful of thorns. I think the stuff was hawthorn. A tiny piece broke off at the base of my finger in the palm. I started to dig out the sliver but its buried deep. Just as I get the nasty in view the blood seeps into the hole and I can't see the sliver in order to grab it with my needle tip tweezers. This is making my fingers feel like they're sprained. If I don't get this out today, I might not be abel to grip well tomorrow.

Does anyone have any ideas of how to dig this thing out? I might try putting an ice pack on my palm to constrict the blood flow. Too bad it isn't winter, I go out and shovel snow.

Tom

 

[Kevin]

Tom,
On Survivor the guy asked a girl pull her pants down and piddle on it ... and she did!
It worked, it took his mind off the sliver or stinger or what ever it was and it didn`t hurt anymore.

It should work itself out in time but you better give it a bath in alchohol to help prevent infection.
If it`s real bothersome go to emerge and they`ll disect your hand and remove it.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Realy deep sticks I use a hot epsom salt bath, table salt if no epsom is in house.

The salts draw fluids out of the tissue and will draw the spine out to.

If a splinter is partaly still in the hard epidermus I will use a straight nail clipper to cut the skinn and grab the wood, just don't pinch hard enough to cut the wood. You usualy gotta pinch real hard to do that.

In vey bad cases I have used an exacto knife to make a small cut across the wound to get the bugger out. This is for the ones going straight in that as you try to get ahold of them you just push deeper and usualy into a nerve or tendon.

I've used Zyxlocane OTC topical anasthetic at times for this.

I went to the Dr. once for one (buckthorn cl;earing last year) turned out I had gotten the thin and it was only dirt left.

I'm pretty stupid when it comes to these things, My hands and forearms are covered with scars from scra[pes and punctures.

 

[treeman82]

We were doing a similar job to what you were doin yesterday Tom. Lots of old boards lying around the area, with plenty of rusty nails I'm sure. I think I may have stepped on a few of them with my boots, but they never went in too far. I just kept thinking about that though.