Many many years ago, in the dark ages, one could buy stuff called Drawing ointment. This was applied to splinters and it sucked them out as it dried. Now all we can do is wait for the body to eject the bits for us. Unless you can bear to dig them out with a sterilised needle.

Hi Owdboggy .. Thanks ..
These are small splinters and a bit too deep to dig out. I've put elastoplasts on the two which hurt the most !

"drawing ointment" ? oooer !!!

I think "Drawing ointment" could be magnesium sulphate paste, Owdboggy. It used to be used in the old days for drawing the pus out of boils (mmm, lovely!) and splinters when they became infected, came out with the pus, too Could be worth a try, TT, and I'm sure if you asked at the chemist they will still sell it, but maybe not under that name.

Hello Gattina .. Thanks.

I'm hoping having the elastoplasts over the splinters might help. If that doesn't work, I'll try chemists :o)

Front teeth and a good soooook! Otherwise leave them for a few days and they will work their way back to the surface. There is a well known Scottish drink for relieving pain! Berberis is my least favourite shrub for this very reason

Hi Mr Moonbulb...

Next time I'm near that Berberis I'll wear strong gloves !
I've learnt my lesson ! :o(

Scottish drink ? Do I soak my fingers in it ? ....

... or drink it ? ... or both ? ;o)

I find about 9'o clock in the evening is the best time, if they are on the surface, a clean sharp knife gets most of them. Deep thorns come to the surface if you use the barrel of a small key, pressed on the skin over them. I spend half my life removing thorns.

Thanks Bob...
Seems you are a world authority on thorn-removal !
Lol.

This Berberis has the sharpest thorns ever....

gattina is right the ointment is called Magnesuim Sulphate Paste, you can buy it from the chemist, it is a white past, you use the other end of a teaspoon to put a small "blob" on a plaster and the apply to area, you can't feel it but it does work. Good idea to buy so so that you have it in ready. Good luck.

Thanks Tomorrow.
That's very useful advice :o)))

[quote[Front teeth and a good soooook! [/quote]
Be nice if I had any front teeth. Lost 'em all playing rugby.
Thanks for the ointment info.

Lol. Owdboggy ...
I guess it doesn't have quite the same effect using false teeth ;o)

My mum used to make a poultice for us, ordinary soap and bread mixed together with boiled water and applied whilst hot, had very magical powers Terra...

Useful input thanks Lincs ...

Ooh... bread, soap and water ! ...

... not sure whether I would use it as a poultice or eat it... Lol..

... but ... excellent ...
... the old remedies are often the best :o)

Oh yes Terra, I have used it myself many a time, never tried eating it though, lol...

Oh, Goodness, I remember poultices! They were positively mediaeval, and they burned your skin something rotten.
So you're a ruggerbugger, are you Owdboggy? OH was one too, and still (just about) has all his teeth, but they are damaged and crumbling. I tried to explain to our Italian dentist how the damage had come about, but my language skills weren't quite up to it. I think he thought I had been beating him up.....
My father was an expert at digging splinters out with a darning needle, freshly heated in a gas flame. Not sure which was worse, the splinter or the remedy. Magical it definitely was not, LL.

Is it a coincidence that the advert which has come up next to this question is for ...
National Accident Helpline ??? ;o) Lol.

Rugby League though Gattina, not Rugby Union, Though I actually played both.
Remember the bread poultice from my mis-spent youth. More often used on abscesses than splinters in our family though.
My wife has just finished cutting down a Berberis darwinii, mainly because the Green Waste bins were empty. She got no splinters but I did pushing the stuff down into the bin so she could get more in. 'Tis life. I pulled it out using nail cutters.

So... Owdboggy ...
[he with the Rugby player's physique ]

... got splinters ? Call the Accident Helpline ;o)

Rugby LEAGUE???? It's been nice knowing you, OB.

Lol. Gattina :o)))

Another remedy is a blob of soap and sugar, covered with a plaster. I used this remedy for splinters when my children were little it draws the splinter out.

Thanks Lemondrop ...
Lots of useful ideas. :o)))

Oh crumbs Gattina, in my childhood days it was mum with the needle, she wasn`t very big but boy her grip was strong when needed, plus if you didn`t stand still the needle would hurt more anyway, lol..

I have a small pot of magnesium sulphate paste, I put a blob between to pieces of Gauze and put on the side of the kettle till hand hot, I find this great for drawing out but never put it on the area without a dressing between you and the blob.

I'm with you there, Gattina! Partner is a UNION ruggerbugger and a little legend-in-his-own-lunchtime in his home town (and in several others nearby where some other players lost teeth, fingers, heads etc.!!!!!) He's a much more 'gentle giant' now, but he has all his own teeth - gum shields? ;o) Having said that, when he has received the pointy end of a rose thorn and I'm sterilising a needle, he can be seen visibly quaking in his boots!

Helpful advice, Drc, Thank you :o)

Nariz ...
your gentle giant of a partner sounds wonderful ... ;o)

I'm pleased to report to Lincslass and everyone that just after 9 pm ... the time advised by Dr. Bob ! ... I used a needle on the finger which was hurting the most. I removed a very long, curved sharp thorn.... painful, but gone now ...

I'm keeping an elastoplast on the wound while it heals. I'll be buying some magnesium sulphate paste for future use !

T T
Germolene on a plaster for a few days to soften up skin
then get some one to dig it out for you, Lol, be brave,
new plasters do'nt like to stick like they did, i warm them up and they stick better

Hi Jiffy .. Thanks for suggestions :o)

I have nobody to dig out the splinters ... but manage okay myself...

You are right about plasters ... they don't seem so adhesive these days ...

A friend lost two fingers (half fingers)to a blackthorn splinter,

The splinter was so painfull he put his fingers some were he should'nt and the machine took away the pain of the blackthorn, he now can count to 9

Oooh, Jiffy... that's a scary story ! :o(((

we all joke about it now, but not nice at the time.
some good came out of it, don't mess with mechiney it can bite back he learnt his lesson that day

Oh, Jiffy! Aaargh!
Nariz, I definitely think you and I are soul mates! Round about the time OH and I were courting, in the late 60's there was an advertisement on the underground, showing a hulking, very rugged, gap-toothed, cauliflower-eared, scrum-cap-wearing, broken-nosed rugger player clutching a bunch of tulips, with the words "Only a romantic fool buys flowers!" It reminded me so much of my OH that I fell for him, and by the time I'd seen him play at Twickenham, I was completely hooked. It took him half an hour of stuttering, on one knee in the mud of Regents Park before he could propose, though. Softie!

Ouch Terra, I know from experience how sore that must have been, we really are gluttons for punishment....

Worth the pain, Lincs ...
... finger feeling much better already :o)))

What are you like Terra ? I know,I know..we all do it..can't be bothered to get my gloves ,etc,etc..I had one of those Berberis,so know how you feel..I have enjoyed reading all the remedies..:o))..no shortage of advice there.! Glad you managed to get one out,at least..and at the right time,as suggested .Lol...hope you get the others out,after a visit to the chemist ..take care ..x

Hi Bloomer ...
You know what I'm like. Lol.

Only one prickle left ... so looks like I'll survive, thanks to the varied and helpful advice of GoY members ... :o) x

Aren't 'gentle giants' lovely, Gattina? I'm so glad I met mine - and you sound just as happy with yours. He's even managed to get me to like watching rugby, whereas my ex didn't care whether I liked football or not no matter how hard I tried. Marvellous game! (Rugby - not footie!)

I prefer to watch rugby on television, so I can get up and wander off and make a cuppa when I'm bored. Better than jumping up and down in freezing weather on the sidelines, getting incredibly bored waiting for the players to emerge from the changing rooms (they'd had a nice hot bath) and then looking on while the re-lived the match, getting steadily drunker, while I'm dying to get home.
I'm still watching these days 'cos my nephew has played for England, Leicester and is now captain of Harlequins. (Actually, I think he's just been sacked!) I still tend to think of him as a little scrap of a boy in short pants. He's changed a bit!

Today I bought some Magnesium Sulphate Paste..
I'll add a photo to the blog either today or tomorrow.

.. a picture of the paste ... not of my prickled finger.. Lol.

Photo now added !!! :o)))

So there you are! It IS still sold. The old ways are sometimes the best!

Only £1.78. seems inexpensive, especially if it removes the painful prickles ! :o)

That is cheap,Terra..hope it does the trick..I am going to get some,a good thing to have ,for Pruners Prickles ! Lol.

Lol. Sandra ..
That sounds like some ancient ailment ...

"What did she suffer from ? " ..

"Alas, it was Pruner's Prickles." Lol.

She should have had some paste like you..! :o)))

Or in Stevie TT's case, Pruners' Pickles.

Lol,Gattina....:o)

Congratulations on removing that long thorn TT. Keep going.

Thanks Bob.
Still putting the paste on one tiny embedded thorn.
I'll check it out again at 9 pm tonight :o)

I'll be thinking of you TT. Lol.

Lol. 2100 hours ... :o(((

make a thick paste of baking soda and water. place over thorn until dry. pulls it out!

Thanks Voodoolily ... :o)))

Don't tell me it's still there Terra ! surely after 15 months,almost 15 days,apart from 2 minutes..and who's counting ! Lol..you still haven't got the same bit of paste on,have you ??? you never said :o)))

Hi Sandra ..
maybe I should change the title from
PRICKLED to PICKLED ;o)

Hi Terra..sorry,but I couldn't resist..it made me chuckle..if you prefer PICKLED to PRICKLED..who am I to suggest which? your perogative :o)) xx