Splinter in Foot - What Should I Do?

[Anonymous]

I am the poster with the DC who wound up having outpatient surgery.

We had thought we got it all out. By the time we realized that we didn't, the skin had closed and the splinter was deep. We soaked, pumiced, needled etc but were not able to get it out.

My ped thought it might take care of itself. It did not. It became an encapsulated foreign body - so there was no infection - but there was a bump.

We wound up with -
2 pediatrician appts
2 pediatric surgeon appts
1 ultrasound appt
1 surgery [including having general anesthesia]

If you can't get it out yourself after a day or 2, call your pediatrician and find out what they want you to do. Do not let it go.

[Anonymous]

Just curious, why was surgery recommended? If there was no infection, what was the problem with having a bump? Just wondering as I and lots of other people have gravel or something like that permanently in a knee, etc. and it hasn't bothered me in the 25 years it has been there.

[Anonymous]

My son got a sizable splinter deep in his hand a few months back. We tried everything to get it out. We were going to just wait because it didn't seem to bother him but then it started to look like infection was setting in so we had to take him to his ped. and have them remove it and then they prescribed an antibiotic for him to clear up the infection.