Splinter

Updated on May 05, 2010
H.H. asks from Little River Academy, TX
7 answers

My daughter is a tree climber. Yesterday she said her pinky was hurting and showed me a very red, sore, swollen bump on her finger. It was a splinter. After much pain and tears I was able to remove the splinter. It was still very red and sore this morning (she is at school now) and I notices there are 2 tiny speck on her finger that could be splinters too.

My question is, do I need to take her to the dr? It is clearly infected, but now that I got the splinter out should I just wait and see what happens? And should I keep it covered with a band aid or should I let it breathe?

Thanks. She is covered from head to toe with scrapes and scares from bike riding and tree climbing. She is usually good about pain, so the fact that she mentioned it hurting and cried when I touched it makes me also ask the question.

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So What Happened?

Thanks for the advice. After some more examination in direct sunlight, turns out she has a handful of splinters and confessed that she was climbing our friends unfinished fence on Saturday. I soaked her had in the salt water like you suggested and was able to get some out. I'll just keep it up. I also put some hydrogen peroxide on it last night and it looks a million times better today.
Thanks for the great ideas!

More Answers

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A.M.

answers from Chicago on

My daughter just had a handful of small splinters from a neighbor's unfinished deck rail. It also looked infected, and I couldn't get the tiny ones out. I called the pediatrician's office and spoke to the nurse. She said first soak her hand in a bowl or cup of warm (as warm as she can do) water & salt for 5-10 minutes (I used about a tsp of salt and 2 cups of water). If after that, I could pick them out with very fine tweezers or push them out with a credit card, do it. I was able to get the 3 or 4 itty bitty ones out and it didn't bother her because by then her skin was raisiny and less sensitive. Anyway, afterwards, she told me to soak her hand in peroxide. It was on her palm, so I just poured some in a shallow plate and had her rest her hand in it for a few minutes. The nurse said leave it open to air out & don't use bandaids, but repeat the peroxide every 12 hours for 48 hours if the redness wasn't clearing up. She didn't say to do it, but I did put a light dab of Neosporin on her hand before bedtime. She woke up fine and didn't complain at all about her hand. It happened last Thursday, so I think we're all good now! Gotta love our outside adventure girls :)

4 moms found this helpful
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W.M.

answers from Sherman on

Hi, I would just put anti-biotic cream on the spot where the splinter was & when she gets another splinter, if you will wet a band-aid & put a little meat tenderizer on it & apply to the place whre the splinter is, that will draw it out in a few hours, or if it is quite deep, it may take a day or so, but you don't have to dig into it that way. Hope this helps.

1 mom found this helpful

L.B.

answers from New York on

soak it in warm water and epsom salt, put topical antibacteria cream such as bacitracin on it, wrap it loosely in a gauze bandage to keep it clean. Keep the area clean and dry. Monitor for signs of spreading infection and if the wound continues to look infected and is not healing I would call the pedi just to be on the safe side.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.B.

answers from Austin on

Hydrogen peroxide is an active kid's best friend. If the kids get small splinters or the small cactus thorns, duct tape will take them all out (and some hair) but not as scary as tweezers (but only when it first happens not on red, infected boo-boos.) It works for my boys that constantly have something stuck in their skin.

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S.O.

answers from San Antonio on

Epsom salt soak in warm water. Fights infection and helps loosen remaining splinters so they can be removed when ready. I once had a doc tell me not to dig after the tiny splinters just under the skin, if they don't hurt. Keep soaking in epsom slats and the will loosen and work their way out.

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M.N.

answers from Longview on

I would do it yourself if you can. We took our son to doctor to get something out of his foot that we had trouble with and it was charged as a surgery on our insurance and we had to pay a deductable. So, be careful! Soak it, then try to get it out while skin is soft. We have even used steralized nail clippers to pinch off a little skin above it to get splinters out. Then soak it in warm water and clean it. It should heal in a day or two. It worked for us! Hope this helps you!

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S.H.

answers from Huntsville on

I would keep a band-aid with neosporin on it for at least part of the day, letting it breathe some. But if you think she may still have some splinters, you might want to have her doctor check it to get them all out. Otherwise the skin will just grow over it & it will be harder to get out.

I hate splinters :(

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