What to do if you are pricked with a cactus: how to remove a splinter from the skin of a finger, why it hurts, what consequences can there be when the needles are stuck, should I go to the doctor?

Cacti are not only beautiful and exciting, especially during their flowering. These are quite dangerous plants, since most of them have thin sharp spikes. It is very easy to get injured if handled carelessly. It is especially important to monitor the babies, since for them the consequences of an injection with a cactus can be most serious, especially if you do not immediately remove the splinter. Our article will tell you what will happen if this plant pricks, how dangerous it is, and how to remove the splinter.

Is such an injection dangerous?

It all depends on whether the needles remained in the skin, how deeply they stuck and where, whether irritation, redness and swelling occurred. In difficult cases, when there are many needles left in the skin, severe inflammation and suppuration may occur.

Attention! When pricked with cactus needles, it is urgent to inspect this place with a magnifying glass in order to understand whether splinters remained in the skin. You need to be careful, because a small piece can break off, which is invisible at first glance.

If you are sure that there are no splinters in the skin, you need to wipe the injection site with hydrogen peroxide, chlorhexidine or miramistin to disinfect. If they are not in the house, alcohol, vodka, any alcohol tincture, and even cologne will do.
After disinfection, treat the place with brilliant green or iodine.
Then you need to watch the skin. If the redness passes quickly enough, the damaged area does not hurt or swell, there is no danger. You can treat the skin several more times with an antiseptic or alcohol-containing agent and calm down.
If, for some reason, the injection site began to swell, hurt, and became very red, then with a high probability a small splinter remained in the skin, which was impossible to notice. Try to generously smear this place with ichthyol ointment, attach a small piece of a cotton pad on top and glue it with a plaster. If the next day the redness and pain did not go away, the edema did not subside, but on the contrary all these symptoms increased, it is necessary to stop self-medication and consult a doctor.

What to do if the splinter remains in the body?

You can’t leave her, it is very dangerous. This threatens with severe inflammation and suppuration. As the needle itself does not fall out of the finger and other parts of the body, it must be pulled out.

How to pull the needle out of the skin with tweezers?

Disinfect the tweezers with alcohol, vodka, cologne or chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide.
Using a separate cotton pad moistened with a disinfectant, gently wipe the skin around the splinter.
Securely fix the needle with tweezers as close to the skin as possible and extend.

How will rubber glue help?

If there are several needles stuck, glue will help pull them all together.

First, also treat the skin with an antiseptic.
Using a spatula or cotton swab, apply a thick layer of glue to the skin with splinter.
Wait until it dries.
During drying, the injection site may hurt. If you have a lot of pain and you feel severe pain, you can take paracetamol.
After the glue has completely dried, an elastic film forms on the surface of the skin, it must be pulled by the edge and removed. Together with it, splinters will stretch.

If the cactus needles still remain, you can repeat the procedure or remove the remainder with tweezers.

Is it possible to pull a splinter out of a finger using tape or adhesive tape?

If there are a lot of small cactus needles left on the skin, and you cannot understand which of them are stuck and which are not, they can be removed with a band-aid or adhesive tape. Needles that do not stick will immediately stick and remove from the surface of the skin. Do not save scotch tape, cut off new pieces so as not to transfer sticky needles to other places.

What to do if the needle is stuck in the skin?

If you tried all the methods, and the splinter does not stretch, you can try to steam out this area of the skin, then treat it with an antiseptic and gently squeeze it.
You can make a bandage with Vishnevsky ointment or ichthyol ointment for the night. They will remove inflammation and stretch a splinter from the skin.
If in the morning there is no effect from the ointment, the splinter remains, pain is felt, there is redness, you must consult a doctor.

How to treat a wound?

Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water.
To disinfect the damaged area with alcohol, vodka, cologne, any alcohol tincture is also suitable. You can apply chlorhexidine, miramistin.
Smear with salicylic, ichthyol, Vishnevsky ointment or any other ointment with antibacterial effect, which is at home.
Apply a bandage.
Change every day or as soon as water gets on it.

In what cases should I see a doctor?

If cactus needles are stuck in the face, neck, in inaccessible places where you can not remove them yourself.
If you tried to remove the splinters using all the above methods, but nothing worked. You can’t leave them in the skin even for several days, suppuration can develop very quickly.
If after removing the needles redness, pain and swelling do not pass, but increase.
In the event that an allergic reaction has occurred, which can manifest itself in the form of a rash and redness spreading around the injection site with thorns, as well as to those places that were not damaged.

How to protect yourself from an injection?

Care for the plant carefully, remember that it is covered with sharp thorns, do not allow a number of sudden movements.
Be especially careful when transplanting, take out cacti from old pots with towels stacked in many layers so as not to prick.
Place the cacti in such a way that they cannot be accidentally touched while walking around the room.
Be especially careful if in the house there are small children, remove the cacti to a height inaccessible to them.
If there is a cat or several in the house, and they often turn over cacti, it is worth thinking about placing them in hanging pots on the walls.

Usually, prick with cactus needles is not dangerous if you quickly pull them out and disinfect damaged areas well. The main thing is not to leave splinters in the skin for a long time, they themselves will not disappear.