Whats the quickest way to remove those little (and PAINFULL) spines from rocks stuck beneath your skin?
I ask because despite my good run of not having one get in for about 8 months…
yesterday i lost my board into the rocks and when picking it up before a set came about 6 of the things went into my big toe.
help…
please?
ha
i got 2 out so far buts its so painfull cutting through your skin to grab them with twezers.
really hot bath
a pin and good tweezers
bite the bullet, get em out n clean it up as soon as possible. My friend Taiichi swore by vine(i)ger and tweezers. I never needed the vine(i)ger.
ive got a couple been in for at least 3 years
if i push hard in the spot where they went in i can still feel them
Couple of steps:
Tweezer out as much as possible. If the urchin was in the genus Diadema you aren’t going to get that much out. This can be painful, but it’s important.
Get meat tenderizer, preferably the stuff in a tube, and smear that all over the spines that are left. Let that soak in for as long as you can. Meat tenderizer will break down the spines that are left in your skin. Alternatively you can use lime or lemon juice for this, or vinegar-- all are weak acids that will break down the spines. Meat tenderizer is DEFINITELY the best though…
It stinks when you get hit by an urchin… I used to be a marine biologist and it was an all too frequent occurence…
warm water will neutralize the toxin if applied soon enough
it also works for bees and jellyfish & stingrays
thanks kindly for the help!
i will get on to trying the lemon,lime or vinegar straight away
it really sucks hay haha
Silly,
thats crazy stuff
i left one in for 2 weeks once and my toe doubled in size puffed up and pussed that bad i couldnt walk on it or do a turn!
get them out asap… i had some lodged in my foot. toxins got to me while in my classroom. almost passed out in front of class. had to go to foot doctor and get them removed…
peeing on you foot also helps when you are stranded in a remote location without anything else available…
Yep , pee on them, stink kills ya , stop worrying then .
Kitchen,
Front up to Gosford hospital or any of the Central Coast public hospitals, go to the emergency department and they will xray your foot/feet for free and if they are near the surface they’ll give you local anaesthetic and then get them out for you, all for free.
If they are in deeper, then urchin spines are classed as a category 4, semi urgent, and you’ll be into the operating theatres that day or next. All for free again.
Why do it half-arsed by yourself and possibly make it worse when your taxes pay for free medical treatment.
I work in the operating theatres within the same Area Health region and we do urchin spines all the time.
SF.
Kitchen,
Front up to Gosford hospital or any of the Central Coast public hospitals, go to the emergency department and they will xray your foot/feet for free and if they are near the surface they’ll give you local anaesthetic and then get them out for you, all for free.
If they are in deeper, then urchin spines are classed as a category 4, semi urgent, and you’ll be into the operating theatres that day or next. All for free again.
Why do it half-arsed by yourself and possibly make it worse when your taxes pay for free medical treatment.
I work in the operating theatres within the same Area Health region and we do urchin spines all the time.
SF.
Got to love Australian health care. Wish we had that in the US. Obviously some people can be ok with spines lodged in place (silly’s experience), but for most I agree that you should get them out. My dad just got out of the hospital this week after 3 days on IV antibiotics. Had a staph infection subsequent to getting some sea urchin spines in his toe while diving.
Pat
A buddy of mine swears that the best way to get at them is using a hypodermic needle. It makes sense - if you look closely at a heavy guage needle, the tip actually has razor sharp edges. His method is to soak in hot water and then use the needle tip to carve our a little “bowl” of skin around the spine. This leaves a protruding portion of spine sticking out that is easier to grab with tweezers.
As I type this, I am thinking about one of my co-workers who returned to Oz to see her family for Christmas. A day before coming back to the States she stepped on a stonefish!! Poor girl is lucky to be alive and - according to her - still in excrutiating pain a full week after getting hit.
thanks for the !!!GREAT!!! advice guys!!
this will be a good thread for others to look back on when they expirence the same discomfort
much appreciated
This is the way I do it without causing any further harm or pain, it works for the majority of them. Get a 60cc hypodermic syringe (Great for measuring RR epoxy also) they are used for cattle regularly, so a farm shop or vet should have them.
Then use a pumping action with the syringe to pull them closer and closer to the surface until they eventually come out. Using a tweezers may cause them to crack under your skin.
Kickten, because you’re so close to Gosford Hospital, at least go and get a free xray because no-one can guess how many spines you actually have, even when we check x-rays here in hospital theres often deep, small or shattered spines that have no obvious entry holes or have gone too deep to see on the surface.
You’re likely young and bulletproof , but anyone with a few miles on the clock will advise you to seek free professional help because its close at hand and if things go wrong with the ‘snake-oil’ remedies it can quickly create bigger problems than a boring afternoon in a hospital.
Dont stick non-sterile needles/tweezers/knives/razor blades into your feet either, you’re creating a bigger hole and you’ll be pushing bacteria into your foot. Vinegar and piss arent sterile either.
You wouldnt operate on your dog if it was sick, respect yourself just as much.
Or come down to Sydney and I’ll book you in here, we had 6 Kiwi guys with urchin spines in 1 day !
I’ll stop nagging you like an old bag now.
SF.
Howzit pandanus, We used to pee in a bucket and then soak your foot in it, worked every time. Aloha,Kokua
kickten, Kokua is right about pee on the Urchin Spines. My trips to Mexico would almost all the time end up with a Urchin or 2 in the foot and the acid from a good pee would fry the Urchin Spines. Good Luck! Mahalo,Larry
eeewww
what if you got one stuck in your cheek
anyway the one i still have went practically right to the bone in my heel and broke off
worst thing is that the surf was downright crap
and id gotten out
saw a couple of waves come through and went to go back out
and got three spines in one go