So I just bought some Ichthammol ointment to try and draw out a particularly stubborn doug fir splinter that broke off somewhere deep in the joint on my index finger. I'm convinced it has gone underneath a tendon or into the bone or something. The finger is pretty swollen. Old wives tale says this salve works. Any of you old farts use this? Looks and smells like roofing tar!
JP
Yes it does work , if its gone as deep as you say though you need proper medical treatment
It works real good for ~slightly~ embedded wood parts. If you cannot see any part of the wood you need to dig it out in another manner, especially if it's as bad as you say.
RP
If it is in the joint, it must be removed surgically. If it is in there too long the body's defense will encapsulate the foreign object and make you suffer for a long, long time. BTDT. I had a nice piece of oak splinter that accordioned itself into the joint of my right index finger. The superficial part of it had snapped under the skin so I dug it out but obviously didn't get it all. 4 Months later that joint wouldn't even bend without a nice shot of pain. Off to our awful medical system where I was handled that same afternoon, by an expert, for free.
If it is in the joint, it must be removed surgically. If it is in there too long the body's defense will encapsulate the foreign object and make you suffer for a long, long time. BTDT. I had a nice piece of oak splinter that accordioned itself into the joint of my right index finger. The superficial part of it had snapped under the skin so I dug it out but obviously didn't get it all. 4 Months later that joint wouldn't even bend without a nice shot of pain. Off to our awful medical system where I was handled that same afternoon, by an expert, for free.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somebody Paid.
If it is in the joint, it must be removed surgically. If it is in there too long the body's defense will encapsulate the foreign object and make you suffer for a long, long time. BTDT. I had a nice piece of oak splinter that accordioned itself into the joint of my right index finger. The superficial part of it had snapped under the skin so I dug it out but obviously didn't get it all. 4 Months later that joint wouldn't even bend without a nice shot of pain. Off to our awful medical system where I was handled that same afternoon, by an expert, for free.
Must be a terrible medical system if it took you 4 months of pain before you decided it was worth going in for. ???
Leon:
LOL. okay smartypants. I tend to try to 'walk things off'. I have nothing but excellent experiences with our healthcare system.. besides, I have connections. (SO and her troupe) :-)
Follow-up...
So I applied the tar yesterday afternoon and again that night before bed. This morning the first thing I did in the shop was get out the tweezers....and it came out pretty easily. I'm not chalking it up
100% to the Ichthammol, but I definitely think it helped. It now has a place in my anit-sliver arsenal.JP
Excellent! You got lucky Jay.
RP
RE: Subject
When I was a kid, the stuff was known as "drawing salve".
Lew
Consider adding an Xacto knife with the "pointy" blade to your kit.
Have kept an Xacto holder /W/ a blade cover along with a bottle of betadine in my shop med kit for years.
Lew
_Everybody_ Paid. That's the purpose of insurance, after all. Having a single entity (government or otherwise) collect the insurance and requiring all to participate is the most cost effective way (compare the
5% overhead of the candian system to the 33% overhead of UHC[*] or Anthem, or the 2% overhead of medicare).Think about it - if you're going to require all to carry insurance, then having someone who _already_ collects insurance (e.g. medicare via payroll deduction or 1040 for self employed) do the collection (if not necessarily the processing) only makes sense.
scott
[*] 2008 UHC 10K. USD 5,000,000,000 profit, USD 22,000,000,000 cost exclusive of payments to medical providers (i.e. overhead) from USD 80,000,000,000 revenue.33% of every insurance premium dollar goes to the insurance company; plain highway robbery.
I think I'd rather have a federal agency tell me what healthcare will get reimbursed (and at what rate) than for UHC, Anthem or my employer to decide whether or not a procedure is covered.
Actually, I'd rather just pay the doctor directly, myself, for most routine care and have government provided insurance for catastrophic care. Removing the middle man _will_ reduce the cost to the patient (my doctor will already accept cash at 50% the rate he charges to the insurance company).
But it is decidedly Not Free!
My daughter's hospital charged me 50% more for recent surgery than it charges her insurance company, who refused to pay based on PEC ... and no, there was no other hospital where the surgery could be performed.
Turned out not to be caused by PEC, and now it looks like I'm going to be forced to sue both the insurance company and the hospital to get reimbursed, if at all ... the lawyers have to dip their beaks, too doncha know.
My optician _used_ to charge less for cash payers, but they stopped that about ten years ago, and now just charge you top insurance prices.
IMO, and having lived in both era's, the problem is, and always has been, at least since post WWII in this country, _INSURANCE_.
Wow, they had that back then already? . . . . gdr
Sorry=85I meant to say I stole the service from the income tax of those slaves whose paycheques I sign.
Hell, it was on the same shelf with Hadacol.
We used various combinations of a fresh piece of egg shell, soaking the splinter finger in white vinegar, or a poultice of white bread boiled in milk, to do any splinter "drawing".
Amazing what country folk did in the way of "health care" in the late forties and fifties.
the best "digger out er" I found was a new sterile hyperemic needle (25 GA works great)
Dave
Treat a burn with egg white.
Stop a cut from bleeding by coating in fresh coffee grounds.
The one I really hated was the daily dose of cod liver oil - Mom lined us up and pulled each little nose up to get the mouth opened and shoved a spoonful of that crap in.
------------------------------------ You too huh?
I always thought that was my personal hell.
Lew
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.