How to Remove a Splinter: First Aid and Tips

Splinters are foreign bodies in the skin that can be quite painful! How you can remove splinters, we explain here!

Whether you are doing DIY, walking barefoot or playing – neither adults nor children are safe from splinters. The annoying foreign bodies can be made of wood, glass or plastic. If it is a small specimen, you can remove the splinter yourself. We will explain to you how to do it!

Splinter removal: First aid & tips

Tool

• Tweezers (possibly with LED light)
• Needle
• If necessary, use a magnifying glass to see the foreign body better.

Disinfection

• Wash hands thoroughly with soap and dry them.
• Disinfect tools to prevent infection. To do this, hold the needle or tweezers over a lighter and then clean with a clean cloth soaked in alcohol.
• Apply skin disinfection spray to the affected area.

Procedure

1. If the splinter protrudes from the puncture site, it can normally be removed with tweezers. It is essential to pull the splinter straight out, otherwise there is a risk that it will break off. Check in any case whether you have caught everything!
2. Clean the wound and apply skin disinfection spray again.
3. Cover the area with a plaster to keep bacteria away.

Attention!

• Do not try to push the splinter out with your hand! This will irritate the skin even more and the intruder may break or slide even deeper.
• If you can’t remove the splinter completely by yourself, it’s best to see a doctor! If you fiddle around with the splinter for too long, the wound can quickly become irritated.

To remove a buried splinter

• Pulling ointment: A pulling ointment can help to pull the splinter to the surface of the skin and then remove it more easily.
• Warm soap bath: If the wood splinter cannot be removed with tweezers, soak the body part in a warm soap bath for about ten minutes and then try to remove it again. The warm water will cause the wood to swell and be pressed to the surface of the skin. As a further measure you can easily scratch the skin with a disinfected needle to get better access to the splinter.
• Baking powder: For very small splinters you can mix 1 tablespoon of baking powder with some water to a pulp and put it on the affected area. Then cover this area with a plaster or a gauze bandage and let it work for a few hours. It should be easier to remove the intruder afterwards.

When should you go to the doctor?

If there is a large foreign body in the skin or if it is a piece of glass or metal, you should always consult a doctor. Also take a look at the vaccination calendar for tetanus vaccination: if in doubt, consult your doctor and take the vaccination calendar with you. If the splinter itself has been removed, but the pain and redness have not subsided, the visit to the doctor should not be postponed either, as it could be an infection which in the worst case could lead to blood poisoning!