General Medical Question - Non Urgent - Cut toe

[Kelly.]

Being silly and feeling sorry for myself lol. I stood on some glass about a week ago. It wasn't much and the cut isn't very big but I have a small cut on my big toe. There's a flap of skin that's sort of started to stick back down (if that makes sense). I went to the beach today though and must have caught it on something again (silly me for not wearing anything on my feet) and the flap off skin has come away from my toe, it's really sore and red and there's sand in it. I've tried rinsing it but the sands still there. I don't want to poke it incase the sand goes in further and it gets infected or something.

Any ideas how to get the sand out without digging something in it? Or shall I just leave it and it'll come out on it's own?

[l'il esky]

maybe just soak your foot in salt water, makes any wound nice and clean and may encourage sand to come out or use clean gauze and gently wipe????

[Animad]

The best thing to do is try and clean the wound out as much as you can, preferably with a wound wash or with a mild soap + water solution, rinsing with water afterwards. Cleaning it using sterile gauze is always the best way as cotton wool and things can leave fibres in the wound which your body can later create a reaction to. Try and get as much of the sand out as possible and any other debris that might have gone in there. It may also be a good idea to put a gauze pad in some hot (obviously not boiling but water that you have boiled and then left for a while) and then take it out and hold it on your toes for a while, this will help to draw debris out of the wound. Take this off once it starts to go cold, dry the area and then cover it in a plaster to stop it from becoming dirty once more and allow it to heal, maybe covering it in anti-bacterial cream first. To be honest, I'm not a fan of salt water as it can be harsh on some peoples skin and as it dries cells out a bit it can slow down healing.

[l'il esky]

in my profession anyway salt water is what we recommend and we use it for chronic/acute wounds eg diabetic foot wounds, IGTN (and what gp's recommend too etc) but yes if you use too much salt you can get salt burns howver you can buy normasol or saline solution which isnt harsh at all as quite low concentration. also we dont like soapy solutions cos not always washed out appropriately. But its all personal experiences its just what we were taught at uni and what has been implemented in podiatry throughout the country.

sorry kelly, not really the place to be discussing this is your post.
the main thing id to make sure the wound is clean and get as much of the sand out so it doesnt get trapped under the surface when the wound starts to heal. :) hope it gets less sore soon