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I've been digging at a splinter under my thumb nail; I guess you know what that feels like.

I just got it out.

I actually had to put the knife blade under the nail, and use the tip of the fingernail as a fulcrum . . .

No more thumb-picking for another 4-7 days or so . . .

Don't you own any guns?!

That sounds dreadful.

Talbot

Wood or metal? Steel wool/metal splinters are the worst.

Oh, there's LOTS worse than metal splinters!
I've had a tiny, tiny shard of glass moving about, under the skin of my left index finger for about 4 months now.
I did surgery with a knife, and thought I got it all out. but I couldn't tell, because the pain of the surgery was more than the pain of the remaining splinter.
It was deep, and started healing over, when I found out it was still there . . . hurt.
So I went wet in with a knife again, a 2nd time. using a magnifying glass n' everything . . .
By then it had migrated 1/4".
Glass is transparent, and this was a miniscule shard/splinter; and what with the blood and pieces of skin, I couldn't tell if I got it or not.
About a week later I was picking something up and "Wammo!"
Owww!
Too late, though; it had healed over, and worked it's way down into the finger, by the bone.
I think it's shaped like super-thin an arrowhead, and it's less than 1/32" long, perhaps a millimeter or so . . .

Sometimes you just have to deal with it. The choice is simple... Either soak it and soften it and take a razor blade and cut back to the offending piece. Or... Pay a surgeon to basically do the same thing.

I've had this happen and the choice of having someone else do it (without soaking) is far worse.

Use a new blade and sterilize it. Good luck.

Holy smoke guys. Performing surgery on yourself is not wise. You can find a GP variety sawbones who can do that in his office and will enjoy getting a break from sore throats. Best of all, he'll shoot your finger full of Novocain before he starts cutting.

My late brother decide to pull his own tooth. Got liquored up enough to stand on a chair, tie a string around a tooth and jump off. Said it hurt like hell. Even worse, it was the wrong tooth.

Talbot

MikeTalbot wrote:My late brother decide to pull his own tooth. Got liquored up enough to stand on a chair, tie a string around a tooth and jump off. Said it hurt like hell. Even worse, it was the wrong tooth.

Talbot

taking medical advise from the 3 Stooges is never advised!

GuitarMikeB wrote:

MikeTalbot wrote:My late brother decide to pull his own tooth. Got liquored up enough to stand on a chair, tie a string around a tooth and jump off. Said it hurt like hell. Even worse, it was the wrong tooth.

Talbot

taking medical advise from the 3 Stooges is never advised!

LOL, gtrmike!

yeah, i'm more of a "tie the offending tooth to a doorknob and slam the door" kinda guy, myself!

Holy Smokes... I have had to chose between this twice. This is not open heart surgery. When I had a doctor do it, it hurt far more. When I did it with the use of soaking and using ice. Infections under nails are amazingly painful... OAOAHHHH

I guess your right. That really sucks anyway you slice it. Sorry thinking about how bad that can be, doesn't bring back any pleasant memories.

Good luck Allan.

(shudder) you guys are giving me nightmares....

Or maybe it was Mauthausen?

Reminds me of this local jackass...

He had an accident..ouch.
He used a circular saw to cut off one of his fingers.

So as the story goes, he didn't think that he would get enough money for missing only 1 finger, so he intentionally cut off another finger.

"no big deal, right"? lol

Scott

Now that's a dumb ass.

My ex works in the construction industry and told me once a guy out in the yard cut off a few fingers and came in and told the team, "That's a whole new kind of pain!"

Talbot

Well, that last splinter is gone, the nail has grown back, and it's all good.
Phew!
So - what happens (yeah, you guessed it)
I got another splinter. Sheesh!
I was wiping some dust off a piece of rough furniture, and rubbed against the wrong thing; didn't even know there was any rough wood there.
Right middle finger, right by the joint, and it went in at a 45 degree angle, down towards the bone.
I couldn't get it out . . . that was Friday, digging and scraping, trying tweezers . . . tried a snake bite kit to suck it out.
Nothing worked.
Then, by Sunday it was swelling, getting more painful.
I tried scraping it out with a knife point, and tweezers, again . . . no go.
Here's what I finally did, to successfully remove it.
I examined my tweezers under a magnifying glass.
Holy crap, what a CRUMMY, off-center, crooked, poorly-ground tip!
And this was the best of 4 different tweezers.
So I used a fine grinding stone, and ground the tip of the tweezers down smooth, and then I ground each tip down to almost paper thin.
I tried the tweezers again.
Yes!

I could now EASILY get into the cut, and around the sliver, and it came right out; first try.
What a relief! Now I can finger-pick again!
.
So, some advice:
Buy an extra pair of tweezers, this week.
Get out a good magnifying glass, and grind it down.
Put it in your first-aid kit; then, the next time you have a splinter, you'll be able to pull it right out. immediately; no muss, no fuss.
This has been the year of splinters for me; had more this year than the previous 5 years combined.

Or maybe, just don't get any more splinters?

Talbot