ichthammol

[simple_gifts]

Ok, after having 3 giant splinters in my finger for several weeks, a co-worker bought me this topical black "drawing salve" distilled from oil shale. It is supposed to draw out the splinter. I have never heard of it, apparently it has antifungal properties too. Smells and looks like roofing tar. Seems to be a remedy from decades ago. I'm thinking I'll probably build a deck with what feels like is in my finger.

Has anyone heard or used it? Interested in whether it works.

Thanks.

-Thomas.

 

[XS650]

http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2008/ucm1048291.htm

 

[hate2work]

You've put up with three giant splinters in your finger for three weeks? Dude, what are you thinking?

This is how infections start and then fester into [censored] like the flesh eating virus, not good at all.

A relative lost his thumb from doing this very thing!! Get this looked at by a doctor, immediately if not sooner

 

[flanso]

Ichthammol ointment was a standard remedy when I was a kid. It seemed quite effective especially on minor wounds that became infected. I'm not sure if the product mentioned in the FDA letter in XS650's post is actually ichthammol.

 

[Gary Allan]

We need pictures!! Then we can all give recommendations for in the field removal techniques. I've always been fond of the side/parallel boring field sterilized needle technique. Sometimes, the ripping of some of the surface is required to allow the tweezers to get a grip. If that fails, then it's deep core drilling.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

Next week we will cover drilling of a smashed nail with a hot paper clip to relieve the pressure of hemoraging beneath it! Hint (bring some safety glasses)

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: Bryanccfshr
Next week we will cover drilling of a smashed nail with a hot paper clip to relieve the pressure of hemoraging beneath it! Hint (bring some safety glasses)

 

[hr1940]

When I get a spinter I make a paste of flour and salt and put it on the area that has the spliter. I wrap gauze over it and let it dry completely. When you peel it off the splinter usually comes out. For one like yours that has been left in so long go to the doctor in the morning. It is probably infected by now. Do not take a chance.

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: hr1940
go to the doctor in the morning. It is probably infected by now. Do not take a chance.


+1 My FIL almost lost a digit that way. I wouldn't chance it.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: flanso
Ichthammol ointment was a standard remedy when I was a kid. It seemed quite effective especially on minor wounds that became infected. I'm not sure if the product mentioned in the FDA letter in XS650's post is actually ichthammol.


There's the problem, so one knows what it is except the people that make it and they might not know.

 

[RWEST]

Like this stuff?

I read a review of it in an issue of Motorcycle Consumer News some months ago, where a guy used it to successfully treat an itchy rash problem that had been impervious to anything else. He was writing in response to an article by that Flash Gordon, MD guy's column, where Flash mentioned it.

One of the girls here at work swears by it as a "drawing salve". Says her mom used it many times when she was a kid and got into thorns and such.

 

[simple_gifts]

That is exact brand a woman at work bought me.

 

[BrianWC]

Be a man! Needle, tweezers,and pain! Actually I find that one thing that helps is to squeeze down on the finger and draw the blood to the tip, assuming that's where the splinter is, and it usually helps to force it out...

 

[andyd]

X2,sometimes letting it fester for a day to build up a little pressure helps. I get a few splinters every yr. Steel splinters are worse than wood. Optic fiber is s'posed to the worst.

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
Steel splinters are worse than wood.

I used to work at a wire harness manufacturer and I can tell you that copper splinters are way worse than wood.

Never tangled with the fiber optics.