Foreign bodies in the Skin: Its cause and first aid treatment
Small foreign bodies like shards of glass and wood splinters usually cause small puncture wounds with little or no bleeding. But they are quite painful. Hence they have to be removed early. If a portion of the foreign body is found to be sticking out of the skin, it can be grasped with nails or a small forceps and pulled out. If it is deeply embedded in a wound, attempts at its removal may drive it deeper into the tissues. Such patients should be sent to a doctor. Foreign bodies are often contaminated with dirt and can cause infections including tetanus.
First Aid
- Reassure the victim.
- Clean the area around the foreign body with an antiseptic solution gently, without driving the foreign body into deeper tissues.
- Pull the foreign body out if its aid is found to be projecting outside the skin surface.
- Squeeze around the wound to cause loss of a little amount of blood, which drives out dirt too.
- Put a dressing over the wound.
- If it is deep, send him to a doctor immediately.
- Removal of a fish hook from the skin is difficult. It gets driven in further if an attempt is made to just pull it out. Its projecting portion has to be cut before pulling out the rest of the hook.
There is no urgency of removing it. The victim is sent to a doctor for removal of the hook.
