Kate (Germany) on 10/20/2015:

My 14 month old and I handled a prickly pear not knowing what it was :(. No advice given in store.

My wee one screemed in pain half an hour later and I had stings all over my hands.

I read on another side to use pumice stone to reduce the pain levels. I have one with a very fine side to it, so I very gently rubbed it over my daughters hands and then over mine and she stopped screaming immediately. It worked for most of the stingers, I think.

I then used white wine vinegar and bathed our hands in it for 10 minutes. I felt better immediately but as I touched my daughters left hand I could feel, she had a pretty big splinter in the soft palm. I sucked at it for a few minutes, drawing it out and then used a tweezer to get it out completely. She is absolutely fine now and the redness on her hand is disapearing as I write this.

I won't be buying this fruit for quite a while to come as it is not child proof!

Thank you for this great piece of advice.

All the best...

Tiffany (Northern California) on 02/24/2014:

My young son had a minuscule splinter in his foot that was causing him a lot of discomfort. We soaked his foot in soapy water for about an hour but this did not move the splinter to a removable position. After reading Earth Clinic, we soaked his foot in white balsamic vinegar for 30 minutes. The splinter almost slid out of his foot! We were able to use tweezers with no problem at all to remove the splinter easily. Thank you Earth Clinic for all your information. You have saved our family many times!!

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Goldy (South Elgin, Il) on 10/27/2012:

OMG!!! This vinegar things really works! Had a small pc. of a thorn in my thumb for a couple days. Soaked it in vinegar for 30 min. After reading this and it worked! Had to pull a tiny bit of the skin away from the top with a needle, but I started sqeezing it after that and it came right out!!! Thanks everybody! Many Blessings!

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Krazierkay (Newcastle, Nsw, Australia.) on 10/17/2012:

Had a nasty splinter in my finger that wouldn't budge. Tried Magnoplasm and Bi carb soda paste and wouldn't budge and my skin was swollen around the splinter. To painful to get to it with the needle. Tried the vinegar. Soaked it for 30 mins. Swelling reduced to a shriveled finger look. I was able to slide it out with a needle with very little pain. Thank you Earth Clinic.

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Ashley (Austin, Tx, Usa) on 01/13/2012:

I tried the white vinegar last night and let my finger stay dipped in it for about 20 minutes. I didn't notice anything come out.

The next day I noticed it looked like my finger was getting an infection and there was dead skin (where I was trying to get the splinter out).

I used my fingernail clippers to clip the skin away and noticed that it wasn't dead skin it was actually a white tiny bubble of pus. I popped it and the splinter came out on its own!

So, don't get discouraged if this doesn't work right away. I'm not sure if this bubble of pus would have formed on it's own or if the vinegar caused it. Either way, I would try the vinegar again!

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Lil Bread (South Bend, In) on 01/12/2011:

About three weeks ago I got a long wood splinter in my finger. I pulled out about 1/2 inch of wood and thought that was all of it but sadly it wasn't. I tried soaking in Hydrogen peroxide, alcohol and salt water to no avail. I came across this article about soaking in vinegar. I submerged the finger in vinegar for about 30 minutes. Squeezed the Affected area and out popped the 1/2 inch long splinter. I was amazed.

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Ada (Geneva, IL) on 09/07/2009:

Splinter deep under index fingernail

Just want to say Thank you. I followed the instructions above soaking my finger in white vinegar then applying pressing to the end of the splinter. It moved just enough to pull out with tweezers!! Thank you so much. Thought I was going to have to go to urgent care.

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Beth (Madison, Wisconsin) on 07/10/2008:

I had a tiny wood splinter in my finger. I first tried to take it out with my tweezers; I had to rip of the top layer of the skin to get to the splinter. I only got 90% of it out that way. Then, I read a post on this wonderful website about using white vinegar. I soaked my finger in the vinegar for several minutes and then pulled out the rest of the splinter with my tweezers painlessly. Wow, I was happy. That was last night, and now this morning, as I look at that same finger, I don't see any marks or cuts where the splinter was!! Thank you all for creating a fantastic website and for contributing more safe remedies to it!!

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Jamie (Gilbert, Arizona) on 05/13/2008:

SPLINTER REMEDY: White vinegar removed a splinter quickly and pain free! My 2 year old son grabbed a catus and had, what seemed like, hundreds of splinters all over his hand. We soaked it in a bowl of plain, white vinegar and the splinters all popped out on their own!

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