WOT- fiberglass splinters can't be removed!

[challenger]

I recently made a stake pole for kayak fishing by joining two 5/8X40" fiberglass rods together. These rods have been damage by UV and were somehow rough as the original gell coat was gone. I had to handle these quite a bit and ended up with several fiberglass splinters. Most came out easily but I have a fww, really annoying, splinters in my fingers that I can't see and, so far, remain stubborn.
Any tips other than wait?
Thanks

 

[Strostkovy]

I wonder if peroxide would bubble at the area the splinter penetrates.

Maybe alcohol would sting and help you pinpoint the exact location?

 

[HWooldridge]

They will eventually break off.

Only way I was ever able to see them was under a lab microscope - but they are still difficult to remove.

 

[rons]

I had a long oak splinter that was in a finger tip. Kept squeezing every day.
Took about a week and it suddenly popped out. Was about 5/16 long.
Just keep the squeeze on and you can see the fluid at the entry.
If you don't apply some Italian persuasion the skin might heal up and you will be an embedded system.

 

[BoxcarPete]

Last time I got fiberglass splinters like that, I just rubbed my hands and arms vigorously to break them up a bit, but it was still unpleasant for a few days. Then your skin grows out and they shed along with it.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

I had a long oak splinter that was in a finger tip. Kept squeezing every day.
Took about a week and it suddenly popped out. Was about 5/16 long.
Just keep the squeeze on and you can see the fluid at the entry.
If you don't apply some Italian persuasion the skin might heal up and you will be an embedded system.

What's probably happening is that the wound in which the splinter now resides has become infected, which is loosening and slowly expelling the splinter.

 

[moonlight machine]

I had road rash all over my back, the imbedded rocks and dirt that the fat 50 year old nurse that hated motorcycles failed to clean out with her scrub brush worked their way out through the skin for about 2 years. Your splinters will come out eventually.

 

[akajun]

Nail clippers
Dig away some of the skin with them until you can grab em with the jaws

 

[MrWhoopee]

I have a real glass splinter in one of my fingers. It's been there since 1976. Besides a minor disruption in the fingerprint I scarcely know it's there.

 

[michiganbuck]

i got a big splinter in my palm and pilled it out.
About two yesrs later a sore lump on the back side of my hand , and i squeesd it out to be a piece of wood like the tip of a toogh pick.

 

[henrya]

Duct tape.

 

[moonlight machine]

Duct tape.

Does that fix road rash??

 

[Strostkovy]

Does that fix road rash??

I can tell you from my experience in high school that it makes it so much worse. It fills up with yellow fluid like some giant artificial blister of grossness.

 

[dalmatiangirl61]

Soak in vinegar, it supposedly dissolves the fibers.

 

[Dan from Oakland]

Vinegar will disolve glass fibers????

 

[BoxcarPete]

Vinegar will disolve glass fibers????

No, but it may have some effect on the way your body will attempt to form a cyst around them. I don't think fibers that small usually form any though.

 

[dalmatiangirl61]

Vinegar will disolve glass fibers????

I've used it after installing fiberglass insulation, and it did seem to help. And I've heard it suggested by people working with fiberglass layups. Maybe it just softens your skin so the fiberglass passes thru it less painfully???

 

[Strostkovy]

In my experience, just leave it alone. I've done more damage digging things out. The few impossible to find splinters I've had healed over and stopped hurting, and formed a kernal around it that migrated to the surface and eventually broke through the skin and fell out.

I think so long as it isn't below a callous, and most of the splinter is above the innermost layer of the skin, it will migrate out on it's own. A hard kernal (like a callous nugget, or a skin pearl) will form if it is irritating the skin and then it stops hurting.

 

[Peter Colman]

When I was working in GF both laying up and subsequent machining, despite PPE, I got the problem mentioned by the OP, I found that the best solution was to shower in cold water to remove the loose bits then hot to open the skin pores and wash off the bits.
The guys working with me found this worked for them also. After a few days the itching became less.

 

[surplusjohn]

I had a long oak splinter that was in a finger tip. Kept squeezing every day.
Took about a week and it suddenly popped out. Was about 5/16 long.
Just keep the squeeze on and you can see the fluid at the entry.
If you don't apply some Italian persuasion the skin might heal up and you will be an embedded system.

That hurt just reading it