About a year ago I ended up going through someones windscreen. All better now, but I think there’s still a little lump of glass left in my arm.
Its been pretty quiet, but about a week it started to get a bit sore, so I squeezed it. Now its all bruised under the skin, and I can feel a lumpy bit and a sharp cutting pain when I wiggle it.
I’ve tried squeezing, and I’ve had a little dig with my pocket knife, but it seems pretty stuck.

Its beginning to annoy me now, and it hurts, anyone any suggestions as to how I can get rid of it? (preferably sensible please…..)

Have you thought about a visit to the doctor??

I suspect you forfeited the right to get ‘sensible’ advice when you posted it on here.

You might try the GP / NHS walk-in centre to be a more suitable place for advice.

Yeah, I spoke to the doc about it at the time, and he said that he wouldnt really do anything and that they normally work there way out on there on.
(and I guessed most answers wouldnt be too sympathetic..)

Oh well, might try drinking the rest of the wine and then having another dig.

Again try the doc!

However if you are determined, head out and buy some scalpel blades (get them at most craft shops etc.

Buy some vodka, 1 to drink so you are stupid enough to try this, and 2 to use to sterlise the skin before you cut over the bit of glass.

Then you need to try and get something under the glass to lever it out, Don’t try a grab it with pliers etc until it is well out.

Then when you are bleeding profusely and crying ring 999 and expect lots of sympathy in A+E.

No offence to your doc then but he/she’s an arse. You should always try and remove foriegn bodies if it is feasible as they act as a focus for infection / move around and do further damage.

Pick a quiet time and head off to your local A&E for x-ray and removal. Where are you based???

I knew a carpenter once who had been a rear gunner on Lancasters during WW2. About 40 years after he went on a bombing raid to destroy a ball bearing factory in Germany, he said that sometimes after a hot shower he would find little bits of shrapnel had made their way to the surface and he would break the skin to release them. True story that.

He’s probably dead now.

Depending how deep and where it is just get some scalpels and vodka as above. Or keep wiggling/fiddling and it will make its way up to the surface.

Go back and ask your GP to refer you on to the local orthopaedic or plastic surgeon if it’s really bothering you.

These things tend to either work their way out with time or stay walled off with scar tissue. There are lots of people out there with shrapnel in that has caused no harm for the last 40 years or so but similarly it’s not unusual to find people after car accidents who notice the glass six months down the line and want it take out. As suggested you’ll need an x-ray and a helpful surgeon.

PLEASE don’t dig it out yourself, I’d happily remove it as it is now but wouldn’t be right amused when on call to have to take you to theatre at some antisocial time because you slipped with your razor blade after some vodka…

(Currently working as an orthopaedic registrar in Peterborough if you’re nearby…)

I’ve had a few of these after accidents and mishaps with various things (but not after so long). I usually use the above scalpel method (no need for alcohol, scalpels dont really hurt when you cut with them) but it’s proably not the sensible option, just go visit the walk-in centre.

I knew a carpenter once who had been a rear gunner on Lancasters during WW2. About 40 years after he went on a bombing raid to destroy a ball bearing factory in Germany, he said that sometimes after a hot shower he would find little bits of shrapnel had made their way to the surface and he would break the skin to release them. True story that.

He’s probably dead now.

There is a bit in the ‘No Logo’ book (you know, the ‘Nike and Gap are eeevviiillll’ book) where loads of the locals in a town still ‘shed’ tiny shards of glass through their skin from where they witnessed/watched a factory exploding many years ago. Bleurgh!

A good bit of gravel rash will have stones popping out years n years later.

new blade and dig the bugger out your self, then you can go out on your bike , or be stuck in hosp waiting room , for like ages

Are you trying to say that an A&E reg couldn’t do it tinytim????

😉

Are you trying to say that an A&E reg couldn’t do it tinytim????

I bet that if your GP were to refer you on to “the local orthopaedic or plastic surgeon” you’d come away without any glass and possibly looking more handsome. What’s the chances of an A&E doc achieving that ?

the 2nd bottle of vodka’s usually what makes me look more handsome

Course not Dr Death, but as we both know there’s glass in an arm just under the surface and more than one bit of glass that can be deeper than expected that usually benefits from a tourniquet and better lighting than most A&Es have…

My post is mainly based on the memories of the last one of these that I did (in theatre) where there were more bits of glass than expected and they were fairly close to the ulnar nerve. (Hence advising against random digging around) But if you have a willing patient, tolerant of local anaesthetic, the tourniquet and a bright light there’s no reason why it couldn’t be done in A&E. (Provided the 4 hour wait matron allows you!)

better lighting than most A&Es have…….But if you have……a bright light there’s no reason why it couldn’t be done in A&E.

FFS the crises in the health service is worst than I thought …..

Next time I go to A&E I’ll have to try to remember to take one of those halogen lights from the building site, so that the doc can see what he’s **** doing 😯

OMG – don’t try chopping it out yourself – tendon damage, severe bleeding and other likely results come to mind….

I had a bad crash about 12 years back and landed heavily on my right elbow. Ever since, I had a little chip of bone which I could displace and move around under my skin, much to the disgust of any onlookers. It was occasionally painful and if I leant on my elbow in the ‘wrong’ way, I’d get a massive jolt of pain.

Last new years’ day, I fell over on concrete in a drunken stupor 😳 and woke up the next day to find a small hole in my elbow. To my chagrin and delight all at once, the little piece of bone had been pushed through my skin and had disappeared.

So in summary, get pissed as a little newt, fall onto affected body part and live joyfully ever after.

4 hour wait matron? Youre kidding right? I stabbed myself in the arm with a kitchen knife at 1am on a Wednesday and it took them 5.5 hours to see me. Thought in a Glasgow hospital they’d be far more used to stabbings 🙂 I clipped a nerve and lost feeling and operation in two fingers for about 4 hours. By the time the doc saw me I was considering just going home to bed and taping it up myself!

Hospitals get clobbered financially for making people wait more than 4 hours…

The question for mayan is “Is this an accident or an emergency?”

The point for our morbidly named friend is that while I’m sure he’s technically capable of wielding a scalpel operations are better done in operating theatres where we have those nice bright lights like grizzlygus has… 🙂

jeez, i go to bed and it turns into a “state of the nhs” discussion.
Anyway….. im not in the UK, so walk in centre’s and the good / bad ol’ NHS are not available.
A visit to my gp will cost me 50e, so I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to accelerate the seemingly natural process of it working it’s own way out.
I dont think I will have a dig, as it does seem to be quite deep.

Also, at least one doc has said to me that glass wont show up on a x-ray?

You know I was only joking don’t you Tim?

Sadly Coffeeking, he wasn’t when he started talking of the 4 hour wait nazi matron.

Mayan, glass does indeed show up on x-ray.

everythign shows on x-rays, just in varying ammounts, bones/metal are white, empty space is black, most stuff in shades of gray.