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Splinter Remedies

| Modified on Aug 25, 2024
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The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
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Homeopathy Silica
Posted by Gail (Toronto, Nsw Australia) on 09/04/2010
 ★★★★★

I think the 'herb' you are concerned about is actually homeopathic silica (not a herb) it is great for helping expel foreign objects from your body. I stood on a sea urchin and the spines broke off in my foot - they were very deeply imbedded - but after taking the silica pillules for a few weeks all the spines miraculously came out. I would be very wary about using it if I had any type of clips etc in my body. Can't make any comment about the effect of OP though, which I have tried for the first time a couple of hours ago (1tsp VCO). I was thinking though that some of these really bad side effects might come about if you were to inadvertently swallow a bit of the oil you are swishing about in your mouth - I don't think that would be too good for you after 10 mins of swishing!

Hair-Removing Wax, Watchmaker Tweezers
Posted by M Johnson (Bothell, WA) on 07/27/2023
 ★★★★★

Hair removing wax and watchmaker tweezers for splinters

When my son was little he went barefoot in bark mulch and got a huge number of splinters sticking straight out of the bottom of his little feet. My quick thinking neighbor ran home and grabbed a pot of wax used to remove unwanted hair. She heated it to warm and spread it all over the bottoms of his feet. When it cooled, we peeled it off. It removed the vast majority of the splinters. I was able to remove the rest with watchmaker tweezers, which I've used many times to pull out thorns and splinters.

Baking Soda Poultice
Posted by ORH (TEN MILE, TN) on 02/05/2021

SERVANT, ORH here, and this use of baking soda is a new one on me. In the old days, all homes had a tube of Ichtammol in their medicine cabinet. It is a drawing black salve made from sulfur shale oil. It is making a comeback as Wamart now has it. A few years ago, and prior to the internet, they had to special order it for me. If you research, the modern medical folks will tell you that it is an old wives tale. But, all on EC know that natural things do work. Suggest all consider buying a tube because it beats going to the ER just because of a splinter or thorn. ==ORH==

Baking Soda Poultice
Posted by Servant (Farmville, VA) on 02/04/2021
 ★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I was barefoot and stepped on a wooden toothpick that had been dropped on my living room carpet. The toothpick went deep into the skin near the nail of my big toe. Just the very tiny tip of the toothpick could be seen but when my husband tried to grasp it with tweezers, tiny pieces just broke off and left the remainder deep in my toe.

For several days I tried repeatedly soaking in Epsom Salt which kept down the infection, but the toothpick was very deep and didn't come to the surface of my skin. I made an appointment with my family doctor. She tried digging down to find the toothpick splinter and was not able to locate it to extract it. She sent me home to continue my Epsom Salt soaks, but said that the only other thing I could do would be to go to a surgeon to have it surgically removed.

Later that day I saw a YouTube video by a doctor who was sharing ways to extract splinters. She said to prepare a paste of Baking Soda and water, place this poultice on the affected area and cover with a bandage.

The Baking Soda causes the skin tissue to swell and this will bring the splinter to the surface where it can be extracted with tweezers. I tried this and after several hours of using the poultice, the tip of the toothpick had moved up to the surface of my skin so that my husband used simple tweezers to grasp the toothpick and easily pull it out. This was quite a large section of that toothpick that had been painfully embedded in my toe. I placed that extracted toothpick in a small plastic zip bag along with written instructions concerning the Baking Soda poultice and brought it to show to my doctor in hopes that she would adopt this method for splinter removal. I'm thankful that the Lord led me to that YouTube doctor who had just the answer I needed.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Dean (Illinois) on 02/03/2021
 ★★★★★

Editor's Choice

About a month ago I was closing a ziplock plastic bag, squeezing the top between thumb and forefinger and running them along the ziplock part, when suddenly I felt the unmistakeable sharp stab of a splinter going into my thumb. A plastic splinter of all things. I looked at my thumb but couldn't see anything. But I could sure feel it - a sharp stab every time I ran my fingernail over it.

I figured it would work its way out by itself, but a month or more later it had not. I still couldn't see anything there, but I could definitely feel that stab when that part of my thumb was touched.

So I poured a little apple cider vinegar out, warmed it to 130F, and stuck my thumb in it for about 10 minutes. Then I washed it off, and looked with a magnifying glass. Still couldn't see anything. So I just scraped and scraped along that part of my thumb with a fingernail. Somehow, it must have come out, because I can run my fingernail along that part of my thumb now and there is no pain. Incredible!!!

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Mike (Kent, UK) on 12/17/2020 25 posts
 ★★★★★

Apple Cider Vinegar for Splinter

It seemed to work for me too! It's hard to know what did the bulk of the work - the ACV, the needle I dug it a bit with or the tweezers that I eventually used to pull it out (much to my very high level of relief! ).

The splinter was in a knuckle on my left hand. The ACV did seem to make the skin very pale and a bit numb I guess. It was only on it for about 3 minutes. And then the tweezers yanked the splinter right out!

So yeah, seemed to work well!

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by John (Ontario) on 01/01/2017
 ★★★★★

I soaked my finger for around 40 minutes or more, since the sliver was a bit deep, I had to peel back some skin. The vinegar is good for killing the surface layers of skin so that I could more easily peel off the skin with as little hassle and pain as possible. Be patient and this should work great!

Vinegar
Posted by Mutsa (Zimbabwe) on 01/01/2017
 ★★★★★

Thank you. Apple Cider Vinegar worked for me today as I am writing. I thank God. The splinter was stuck deep in my hand finger nails and I followed the steps it came off easly without pain when I pulled it after it appeared on the surface.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Alison (Ca) on 12/24/2016
 ★★★★★

Read up on others experiences. I was looking up how to pull wood splinters out from under nails for my husband. Came across the baking soda and ACV as the top two suggestions. Figured couldn't hurt anymore than to try one. He soaked his finger in ACV and within 5 minutes, I was able to pull out big chunk with tweezers. So cool.

Epsom Salt, Calamine, Castor Oil
Posted by Diane (Southern Ca.) on 09/09/2016

Thanks,

As for my particular situation with loads of fiber-glass splinters in my palm and fingers, using vinegar on the condition of my hand would have been too painful for my situation as most of my palm was red. I could see that working on a few splinters though. For me the calamine lotion stopped the itch as did the Tinacin. I have had wood splinters before and PRID worked well to get wood splinters out very well. But PRID did not work on the Fiber-glass splinters. The most painful part was in the webbing of my hand between the thumb and forefinger. Working the fiberglass splinters in that area was murder!

Epsom Salt, Calamine, Castor Oil
Posted by Tiffiany (Wasilla, Alaska ) on 09/08/2016

ACV splashed on and left on for at least 10 minutes, really get your skin wet with the vinegar, yeah it's going to sting (don't splash it into your eyes or put it up into your nose or private parts). Then rinse off with cool water. If area still itches soak a washcloth in ACV and leave on for 10-20 minutes then rinse in cool water. Husband has worked in commercial construction for over 25 years and this is what we use.

Epsom Salt, Calamine, Castor Oil
Posted by Diane (Southern Ca.) on 09/07/2016
 ★★★★★

Editor's Choice

I thought I had Stinging Nettles and Ringworm in my hand! I didn't know what to make of my hand and it took me a long time to figure out why my left hand was so painful! I am 65 and the skin on my hands is now thin and I used a rake that was older and worn out. I didn't realize I had gotten hundreds of fiberglass splinters in my left hand! I was even treating my hand for Ringworm! At times my hand looked like I had ringworm. I tried everything on line regarding getting the Fiber glass splinters out and it took me months to get them all out!

This is what I did!

I found that soaking my hand in Epsom salt would bring out the splinters, but usually only the top of the splinter. Then I would use calamine lotion on the infected area and let it dry on my hand and the lotion would attach itself to the splinters when it was dry so I could pull or scrap them off with my finger nails! This was not the end as most of the fiber glass splinters had gone deep into my hand. I had to repeat this process every day to get the fiber glass splinters out completely!

I even went to the doctor and that didn't help. Also to help get the splinters out I used Vaseline worked into my hand followed by caster oil worked into the skin, and even vicks! The 3 oils would help work some of the splinters out! Then I would go back to the Epsom salt again and repeat the process all over again, the Epsom salt, the calamine lotion and then the oil.

It took me about 6 months to get all the splinters out! And it was HELL!

Please use gloves when working outside! My infected hand was so bad that I actually was worried that my hand would infect and I could lose my hand! Also Tinactin the fungus powder would help soothe my splinter filled hand and give it a rest. Then I would continue to treat my hand again. My hand is finally back to normal! I will never do yard work without gloves ever again!

Vinegar
Posted by Mmsg (Somewhere, Europe) on 08/13/2016
 ★★★★★

Editor's Choice

This is the second time a vinegar soak (10 or 20 minutes) caused an embedded, not-even-seeable splinter to pop out of the skin making it easy to remove.

One time wine vinegar was used and the second: plain white distilled vinegar.

Both times, the splinter "appeared" (1/2 popped out of the skin) only a while later, when I had given up staring at it!

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Mike (Abington, Pennsylvania) on 06/19/2016
 ★★★★★

Got a hairline splinter on the bottom of my big toe. Read up on ACV cures here, and decided to give it a try.

Filled a dish with ACV, soaked the toe for about 2 mins, then used a swiss-army knife to scrape away some skin, so the splinter had an exit. It was delicate and required a bit of patience, as the splinter was deeply seeded. After three soaks for 2mins each, piece by piece, I was able to remove the splinter completely with the knife and tweezers. ACV is a wonderful home remedy!

White Vinegar
Posted by Laura (Fort Wayne, In) on 01/30/2016
 ★★★★★

It worked! 9 year old daughter had a splinter under her fingernail. We had her soak it in vinegar for 20 minutes. The splinter came out lickety split. Thanks for saving us a trip to the doctor.

White Vinegar
Posted by Mmsg (Somewhere, Europe) on 10/21/2015

The people I've seen opening and eating it, handle it with workman's gloves. But be forewarned: it has multiple small pits, NOT for little children. But, I'm told it's sweet!!!

White Vinegar
Posted by Kate (Germany) on 10/20/2015
 ★★★★★

Hi,

My 14 month old and I handled a prickly pear not knowing what it was :(. No advice given in store.

My wee one screemed in pain half an hour later and I had stings all over my hands.

I read on another side to use pumice stone to reduce the pain levels. I have one with a very fine side to it, so I very gently rubbed it over my daughters hands and then over mine and she stopped screaming immediately. It worked for most of the stingers, I think.

I then used white wine vinegar and bathed our hands in it for 10 minutes. I felt better immediately but as I touched my daughters left hand I could feel, she had a pretty big splinter in the soft palm. I sucked at it for a few minutes, drawing it out and then used a tweezer to get it out completely. She is absolutely fine now and the redness on her hand is disapearing as I write this.

I won't be buying this fruit for quite a while to come as it is not child proof!

Thank you for this great piece of advice.

All the best...

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Danielle (Saint Louis, Mo) on 07/07/2015
 ★★★★★

I got a metal splinter in the crook of my thumb from the hangers at Macy's. Soaked it in the apple cider vinegar for 2 minutes and was able to pluck it out with a needle and tweezers with no pain. Thanks a lot!

Bread Poultice
Posted by Mmsg (Somewhere, Europe) on 06/15/2015

Ricky, you can try. But what helped me was a 10 minute vinegar soak. Any vinegar.

Bread Poultice
Posted by Ricky (Clayton, Nc) on 06/14/2015

I have a splinter deep in my finger. Will this help?

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Corin ( Hanburg Ny) on 05/03/2015
 ★★★★★

ACV helped me remove a long splinter lodged under my finger nail- I soaked it in AVC for about 5-10 min and then used pointed tweezers to grab the tip and it slid right out!


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