How to quickly draw out even deep splinters without a needle, pain, or trip to the doctor even if they have been embedded for some time. One minute video demonstration included.
A splinter is a fragment of any foreign object that penetrates and becomes lodged inside one’s body. While splinters can come from a variety of materials such as glass, plastic, metal or even the spines of animals, for most people, splinters commonly occur on the fingers and hands from handling some type of plant matter such as a piece of wood.
When one experiences a splinter, pain as the sharp object initially penetrates the skin is usually felt. This is because the object has cut through the cutaneous layer of skin, settling into the subcutaneous layer below. While some splinters stay put at that point, most others will continue to move around, damaging additional tissue in the process.
Splinters that become lodged in the fingers or hand as would happen while doing yard work are usually very easy to remove with a simple needle that has been properly cleaned with alcohol first.
The Problem with Removing Splinters with Needles
The problem with this approach is that children don’t like it as picking at a splinter with a pointy object can sometimes hurt until part of the splinter is exposed and the rest pulled out with a pair of tweezers or a piece of tape.
The second problem with the needle approach is that it doesn’t always work if the splinter is very deep or quite thin and hard to see.
This happened to my husband recently when he got a thorn that was about an inch long deeply lodged in his left index finger while doing some yard work.
No matter how hard he tried to dig that thorn out with the traditional needle approach, he could not even find it let alone remove it.
It was just too deep.
At first, he figured the splinter would naturally work its way out. Splinters sometimes do this – the skin “pushes” them to the surface of the skin where they are easily removed a short time later with tweezers or your fingers.
That didn’t happen with this splinter. Waiting a few days made the situation much worse as the finger got very sore and began to swell.
Going to a Doctor Instead is Expensive
I became very concerned at that point because the finger was obviously infected. I suggested a trip to the doctor, but my husband wasn’t keen on that idea as the (out of network) holistic family doctor we called said it would cost $500 for the office required consultation and subsequent removal of the splinter.
$500 to remove a splinter? Unbelievable!
My husband then had the bright idea to ask his friend who is a veterinarian about the situation.
How to Remove a Splinter at Home with No Needles
The veterinarian said that removing even a deep splinter is easy with magnesium sulfate, better known as Epsom salts. Many people are familiar with an Epsom salt bath for sore muscles or to improve sleep.
This remedy uses Epsom salt in another hugely beneficial way – to draw toxins even a splinter right out of the skin. (1)
The veterinarian said you could either soak the finger a few times a day in a cup of warm water and Epsom salts or make a poultice with it. The poultice is much faster and more effective, however.
Such a method is supported in the scientific literature and very safe as well. (2)
Epsom Salts – How to Draw Out a Splinter
My husband decided to go with the poultice route. He took a small pinch of Epsom salts, placed it on the bandage section of a regular, large band-aid and wrapped the finger with it. He changed the bandage once a day or after it got wet in the shower.
Another option is to put a bit of magnesium sulfate paste (which costs just a few dollars) on the area and cover with a bandage. Magnesium sulfate is the same thing as Epsom salt.
This one minute video demonstrates the easy process. Be sure to clean the area well and use established first aid methods before and after the splinter is out of the skin. (3)
How Long Does it Take?
Within 2 days, it was apparent that the Epsom salts poultice had worked! The end of that thorn was ever so slightly sticking through the skin!
My husband pulled about 1/3″ of thorn out, but he could tell there was still more in there.
He continued to apply the Epsom salts poultice for one more day which caused the rest of the thorn to come to the surface of the skin as well. He used tweezers to pull the rest of the thorn out, which turned out to be about another 1/2″ in length.
Best of all, the swelling and soreness of the finger quickly resolved with the removal of the thorn. It has been a couple of months since this happened and the finger is perfectly fine.
Keep Magnesium Sulfate on Hand
I will be using the Epsom salts or magnesium sulfate paste on a bandage approach to remove all splinters that occur in our household from now on. I’ve purchased a small bottle of the magnesium sulfate paste, and it is now a permanent part of my medicine cabinet.
This approach suggested by our veterinary friend is far easier than using needles or enduring the drama of a doctor’s visit and there is surprisingly no pain at all involved.
One word of caution. If you choose to use the crystals instead of the paste, be sure to buy Epsom salts that are human-grade, rather than agricultural grade.
References
(1) Magnesium Sulfate Paste
(2) Use of Epsom Salts, historically considered
(3) Foreign object in the skin: First aid
Duct tape works well also, so does baking soda made into a paste, bananas, potatoes, and white vinegar also do the trick. Epsom salt is good to know because I always have it on hand.
Amazingly, if you split open a raisin, put the split side against the skin where the splinter is, apply a band aid and leave it on over night, the splinter will be drawn out overnight!
Very good. Advice. Speaking of Epsom salts, I have a tomato plant that bears lots of flowers that do not go on to develop into fruit. When I googled how to correct this problem one site mentioned to try mixing 2 to 3 tablespoons Epsom salts into the soil of the plant. I tried this and a few days later I began to see tomatoes developing. Tomatoes need magnesium!
Excellent information. The kind we ALL love to read and get.
Thanks Sarah
My daughter had a piece of mesquite thorn in her finger, according to her because we couldn’t see it and no one witnessed it. However her finger started to swell a little and with mesquite thorns you can’t mess around. So I took her to the doctor and he looked at it and said no foreign material seemed to be present and prescribed us an antibiotic (which we didn’t take)..thanks doc. Of course she is a girly girl and at 7 years old she starts panicing at the mention of a needle, but I knew we had to do something. So we applied activated charcoal and lo and behold, it festered, and it festered at the side of her finger which was not the entry point. The tip became visible after she removed the bandage to take a hot shower, after the shower the tip showed itself. We were shocked to pull a 1/2 inch thorn out the side of her finger, it was instant relief! However it took a month for the thorn to show itself with the activated charcoal but it was obviously working because a bump formed and became bigger and bigger until the thorn showed itself. I am wondering if the magnesium works quicker? It also sounds a lot less messier than activated charcoal.
I have used a small piece of banana peel on splinter and then a bandaid wrapped around. After a few days, the splinter is attached to the banana peel and all is good again. Good to know about epsom salts too. Thanks!
The epsom salts solve in this thread did NOT work for me even though I had the salts/paste on foot for 5 days (changed 2X daily).
This is wonderful. My husband has splinters every once in a while from working outside. We’ve usually gone the sterilized needle route which most oftentimes did not work. Will definitely make note of this. Thank you for this information.
I know it’s not as natural/holistic as epsom salts, but for a drawing agent like that I was raised on and still use PRID. Every now and then I’ll get an infected hangnail, and the pressure builds up under my fingernail, but nowhere to lance or otherwise get relief. I’ll apply a little PRID to a bandaid and keep it there for a few days (changing out as needed) and after 2-3 days I will usually remove the bandaid to find the pus drawn out into the bandaid and the pressure gone.
What is PRID ?
It’s a homeopathic salve…you can google it and find information about it. That’s what I did! I don’t like that it contains petroleum and parabens.
I’m a Naturopathic Physician and I have another painless fix. This one works for anything that needs to be pushed out of the body such as splinters and abscesses. I personally doubted it for awhile, but it works every single time. The typical progression is that the pain disappears on the first day, 2nd day nothing seems to happen, then on the 3rd day the offending matter painlessly exits the body.
Get one bottle each of homeopathic Sulphur and Hepar Sulph. Take a dose of one, then two hours later take the other. It doesn’t matter which you start or end with. Repeat the progression every two hours while awake. I’ve had reports on this working on animals too.
A better choice homeopathically is Silicea…it is known to expel foreign bodies from tissues. Take 6c several times a day, or 30c once or twice a day.
Lol! You are 100% right! The protocol is silicea and hepar sulph, not sulphur. I was typing without thinking.
hi jennifer , i have a splinter made of wood ( i install hardwood flooring) this splinter is in the bend of my ring finger and has been there so long i grew a callus of it. i have ripped the callus off and now have a open wound that wont heel cause its on the bend and also cause i have wood in there! very painful and i cant even bend my finger to touch my palm any longer!
so before i drink the wrong thing what is it i’m actually wanting??
i got homeopathic Sulphur and Hepar Sulph. wrote down , then sherri corrected you and you agreed but confused me with protocol is silicea and hepar sulph, not sulphur.
so please correct me before i cause more of a problem!!! i’m a single male have no woman to take care of me!!
also it say to take every 2 hours one then the other while awake, do i only do this 1st day or until i get wood out???
i’m going to apply the salt now
What exactly do you mean when you say “homeopathic” sulphur? Homeopathy is a style of quackery that claims that extreme dilutions of a toxin can be used to cure ailments caused by that toxin. Are you talking about using sulphur, or plain water as homeopaths would?
-jcr
Just because you don’t understand how it works doesn’t make it quackery.
Well Diane, tell us exactly how it works.
Exactly how does a “solution” of 30 times diluted substance (diluted so much that there is no traceable amount of the the substance left) work?
Tell us all about how the “memory” of the substance is left in the water and that’s what works. Tell us why drinking water from the tap isn’t a homeopathic remedy for everything because tap water sure has a lot of diluted substances in it. It should be the ultimate cure all.
Tell us all about the peer reviewed science about how great homeopathy is and how it sure works better than the placebo effect.
Homeopathy is bunkum, pure and simple. Wishful thinking by simpletons who have no idea about science.
You know what they call alternative medicine that works? Medicine.
Now go off and peddle your useless fixes to other poor sick naive people who want real help to get well, and tell me how well you sleep at night.
It’s called “energy.” Look it up. It’s spelled E N E R G Y.
Don’t bother. It’s religion, not science.
I am curious about overdosing on homeopathic remedies. If it’s such powerful stuff, shouldn’t we have seen reports of deaths?
To: go john c randolph. Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t make it “fake.” “SCIENCE” doesn’t make it legit or not. Most science is funded by some corporation that stands to make oooodles of money, IF . . . . the outcome is the “right” one. Many of them even twist the results of the experiments to their favor. Don’t be an idiot; you’re talking like one.
You’re such an idiot. Do you know how dumb you sound? TAP WATER? Do you know how stupid you sound? I think your’re an idiot. You must be paid by some company that’s afraid of alternative remedies.
John Randolph is a member of a group known as Barrett’s Parrots (self-titled “Quackbusters”). Stephen Barrett, MD, a retired psychiatrist, who found it much more lucrative to work for Big Pharma and the chemical companies, is their “leader”. He is an intelligent guy. He gets people like Randolph to do all the work for him while Randolph makes nothing and Barrett rakes in all the money. Barrett’s Parrots have been trying for years to destroy homeopathy as well as chiropractors and any other alt med modality that cuts into the profits of CONventional medicine. Their goal online is to disrupt any conversation and try to convince newcomers that the alternative being discussed is “quackery”. You can always these people by the language they use. They will never listen to anyone, and is unable to be swayed by any evidence offered. The best way to deal with them is to completely ignore them as if they aren’t present.
The Quackbusters and Stephen Barrett have been involved in some deceit when trying to sue companies and individuals involved in alternative medicine. In one instance they created their own fictitious medical journal in order to publish their own articles and fake research. They used this in a debate about the legitimacy of chemical sensitivity as a biological condition. The Quackbusters fictionalized data “proved this condition to be psychological in origin. This was done in service to the chemical companies who stood to lose quite a bit if chemical sensitivity was found to be chemically based. You an read more here. The web is full of interesting stories about Barrett and his Parrots.
That’s very correct. Lots of homeopaths are getting rich selling plain water to their clients and laughing all the way to the bank. Science works, quackery doesn’t.
Diane, what I understand about homeopathy is that it DOESN’T work. If you believe in this form of quackery, then you’re the one whose education is sorely lacking.
-jcr
@ John C. Randolph
Two of us had a triple bypass and where they took the Veins out of our legs for our hearts we both got infections. First they tried pills then antibiotics interveinusly. Spelling? After a couple of weeks they were talking about cutting my leg off. I got the hell out of there and went online and ordered three bottles of Silversol and a bottle of oil of Oregano. I drank three to four ounces of Silversol every day and took four drops of Oregano oil every 4 to 5 hours. In three days the infection stopped dripping and a couple of days later you could see it was healing. The other fellow put his faith in the doctors and he lost his leg. Now jcr. I’m sure there is a bunch of stuff out there that’s just plain BS but this actually worked for me. I let the doctors throw everything they had at this infection first and it kept getting worse. I could have saved a couple months of suffering if I had just done this to start with. Remember this just in case science fails you.
Did you try it to use it at all? Or did you try to use it correctly? It alway works for me and my family. I mean, kids 2 and 4 would not know anything, but that it taste good, so, you can’t say it is a placebo effect. I alway took care of their teething, colds, indigestion, flue, restlessness, and pain with it. It always worked. Couple of things did not work for me since I did not pick the right remedy. When I picked the right one, it worked like charm. My husband had a very scary autoimmune flare up and homeopathy helped very much.
I am not going to argue with you, John. You are here to spread misinformation only. No one will change “your mind”, but I don’t believe you have one anyway. Anyway, go take your Medicine (“scientifically” based) and be happy for your bright decision.
I think that you know very well that the term “Homeopathic” has evolved to also mean (highly subjective) “Natural”. You simply couldn’t resist an opportunity to ridicule, and
in the process, make yourself look foolish and ill-informed.
I assume you mean this is taken orally – please confirm. Taking into account the correction by Sherri, what exact detail of Silicea – i.e. 6X -meaning that is what “6c” means by Sherri in this thread?
Note i put “Prid” salve on for 1/2 day and a night but the foreign object in the area did not present hence did not exit.
Sarah,
On Kickstarter.com there is a project asking for pledges to develop kits to make spirulina at home. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spirulinasystems/food-of-the-future-home-grown-spirulina-superfood?ref=category Is this a good idea or another fad.
This is really amazing timing. I’ve been reading the blog for over a year.I have a little shard in my finger that just started becoming sensitive, even though it’s been in there for months. I’ve been hoping I wouldn’t have to have a scalpel taken to my finger. Eugh.
Anyways, today I decided to search for a tomato sauce recipe on HHE, and low and behold, this article popped up. I’m not sure if this remedy will work for me, my “splinter” is a bit deep and seems to be of a round shape, so not as pointy and slim. But I’m for sure trying this! I’ll try my best to remember to post back with results.
And now, tomatoes…
(thanks Sarah)
Also, Sarah, HOW does it work?
Hi Amy, magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) draws toxins out of the skin. This is why it is cleansing as a bath. It also very effectively draws larger objects like splinters out too. I was amazed how well it worked! The magnesium sulfate paste will apparently draw the gunk out of boils and help clear pimples etc too.
Thanks for sharing that Sarah. I have adult acne and I get boils a few times a year and acne weekly. I’m going to try using the magnesium sulfate paste like you suggested. I never thought to use it on pimples and boils. Maybe I should use it on my face once a week and see if it will clear up my complexion!
Diane
Diane, your complexion (acne/boils) problems are hormonally based. Magnesium will not solve that.
— Halaluani
I don’t understand why no one has used peroxide. It and the Epsom Salts work great. For any type of infection. soak a cotton ball with peroxide and hold it to the area for a few minutes. Do this 2x per day and the infection will come to the top of the skin and will rupture. Use this, along with the Epsom Salts and it till cure your boils. Make certain you get the little white core out that caused
Boils are related to diet (processed foods and unhealthy fats).
Try changing to Goatsmilk soap for your skin and hair to clear your skin problems.
Use proactive . I used to break out badly and rarely if ever break out since using proactive. I am an esthetician. If you can afford to get a facial from an esthetician school (beauty school) you should get one twice a month for three months then once a month. Do not let them do extractions. If you do this and use proactive.Buy it on amazon..its much cheaper. wash your face with a gel cleanser. I myself switch off between dermalogica gel cleanser and Murad. Make sure it is a gel cleanser. Proactive also has a clay mask. It works great. Use it once a week. If you can do this for 6 months then try to get a clarisonic brush and use it for 5 minutes a day…good luck!
It acts as a desiccant, drawing moisture out, shrinking the flesh. Thanks to your body’s natural reaction of pushing the object closer to the surface, the object is thus exposed to a pair of tweezers. Anyone who’s made or bought a country ham knows that meat cured with salt shrinks. Bacteria love moist, salt-free areas, so it may slow the spread of infection enough for the body to handle it easily.
In an epsom bath, the salts transfer moisture from the bath into the skin, moisturizing and softening it. Great for rough patches.
when i was a child i stepped on a needle and it broke off in my foot…i remember having to hobble around for days with a plastic bag wrapped around my foot and epsom salts…i wonder if stepped on 2 things cause the needle part is still in my foot …aparently doc. said too many small bones in foot to do surgery to remove it and said just leave it in there….