Any experience of wood splinter gone into your finger? - How did you get it out?

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diytoolbox

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Yesterday I picked up some MDF woods for projects, and when loading them into the car hurriedly something stung my finger.
It was the wood splinter pierced into my middle finger. I tried squeeze out, but it went even further.
I waited until coming home, and tried to take it out, but half of it came out, half is still in the finger.
I read from internet advice wrapping with baking soda mixed with water and plaster bandage,
I did that, but in the morning the remnant of the the tiny splinter has not surfaced to the skin.
No pain on the finger, but wondering what to do next.

It happened exactly same way last time a few month ago, and I just left it and it has disappeared from the hand.
When handling woods or boards or MDFs, please wear protective gloves.
 
When 'er indoors was a practising vet she kept a large box of syringe needles to hand. These are very good at removing splinters. I won't go into the actual procedure but it is quite painless and very effective.
 
MDF is not something you want as a foreign body in your hand. I'd be getting that out sharpish rather than using plasters, baking soda and time. Pop into your local surgery if easier and preferred.
 
I doubt the splinter's MDF.

What could it be? Something long, thin and sharp has gone into the middle of the middle finger, and part of it came out. The pierced finger was bleeding lightly. The end part about 3-4mm long bit it still in the skin. It looks gone in deeper than last night. It has gone in slant way, and now buried further away from the punctured entrance making it impossible to take out via the entered hole. No pain in the finger, but when pressed I can feel something sharp is in there.
 
I had a piece of oak in my finger for a week or so, couldn't get it out as it was deep. I used a hot saltwater bath for my hand for a few evenings and was able to squeeze it out with all the puss that had built up.

It popped right out like a cork.

Will give it a try, or my wife tells me keep wear rubber gloves for a day, and the hand will sweat making the skin soft, and then take it out with needle.
It happened a few month ago, and it was impossible to take it out at the time too. But it was splinter from hardwood, not MDF. I left it, and it has disappeared totally. Maybe it has grown out as hair :D
But this time, it is a thicker splinter and it being MDF is a bit worrying.
 
What could it be? Something long, thin and sharp has gone into the middle of the middle finger, and part of it came out. The pierced finger was bleeding lightly. The end part about 3-4mm long bit it still in the skin. It looks gone in deeper than last night. It has gone in slant way, and now buried further away from the punctured entrance making it impossible to take out via the entered hole. No pain in the finger, but when pressed I can feel something sharp is in there.
More likely to be something that just happened to be there, I'd have thought. Have you ever seen a long, thin sharp piece of MDF? By the bye - get to a minor injuries unit before it infects.
 
There are no nerves in the outer layer of the skin ( the epidermis ) so it is painless to open the puncture a little. Nothing beats a hypodermic needle combined with massaging the sprinter out.
 
Mother used to use a sewing needle rather than a hypodermic - easier to obtain at least where we lived.

Then tweezers with a flat end - the sort used for pulling out hairs.

Then loads of Dettol and a plaster to keep it clean.

I hate needles and injections - but strangely don't mind digging out splinters - although now using gloves more and more (another topic)
 
I have a roll of "Micropore" tape on hand for this. If i can't pick it out I put micropore on or around it - it stops hurting and I forget about it. A few days later it will have found its own way out.
 
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