Question for the doctors, does it really work?
 

Does drawing salve actually work? My father claims it does but I've also heard it's BS. What's the skinny, if it does work, then how?

For those that have never heard of it, it is a black ointment that claims it will "pull" foreign things (slivers, boils, etc...) to the surface of your skin.

Iccthymol Ointment(drawing salve, black, smells like something you would patch your roof with, some derivative of fish oil or something, hence the name), is a topical antiseptic, anti inflammatory and can give mild anesthetic effect. I use it often with ingrown toenails if they are not too bad and I don't have to out with the needles and scalpels.

That stuff is almost like magic in my experience, makes stuff feel better right now. It is not going to make a splinter jump out of your finger, but will make it feel better and hasten healing.

I remember a green salve called osmopack when I was a kid. Any relation?

Speaking of splinters. A good trick I have learned is to use a vacuum cleaner to suck splinters out. Second way is to use the vacuum tool that many of us use to bleed brakes. Try it next time, works well!

I developed a nailbed/cuticle infection that simply didn't go away, and was enlarging the distal phalange for 2 weeks. 3 days of drawing salve (w/ no other antibiotics, etc.) and it was almost gone.

It's not gonna "hurt", why not try it? I haven't used it to remove splinters -- I don't know that it "sucks" objects out, but rather "draws" infection/whatever to the surface.

JP

But my description makes it sound more magical:D

vacuum cleaner? just use a big knife, you know, the manly way to remove splinters...chica's go nuts and get all mother instinctively when they see it.. just grunt and growl when they get near you with disinfectant , tweezers , bandages, get the crazy-eye out for good measure

anything more then a big knife is just girly imho

:D

When I was a Navy medic (Corpsman) we used tincture of benzoin as a "drawing salve" and it was especially useful in treating blisters and ingrown toenails.

The one I remember as a kid was "Rawley's Ointment" (or something like that)...

I'll just rely on an old family remedy that has been passed down through the generations from the Egyptian Pharaoes....a dab of Honey on a wound.

Joe,

I've had a splinter on the sole of my foot since Saturday. I've tried pressure, tweezers, needles all to no avail. It's been fking torture every step I take... I was considering going to the doctor.

I just went out to the garage and tried the Mityvac. Got the bugger out first try

if you were nearby I'd give you a fking handjob

When I was working construction I would use duct tape to remove splinters. :cool:

In my construction days, I was a big fan of the utility knife. Grrrrr. I also once cut my knee with a circular saw, and patched it with paper towels and duct tape.SmileWavy

Yep, honey is antibacterial, antifungal, etc... Good stuff. Do you also use maggots to clean infections and bee stings for arthritis?

Maggots are the cat's ass on necrotic wounds. They don't touch live tissue, are painless and eat every bit of dead tissue.

Honey is good, you can make a paste out of honey and iodine that is very effective topically.

This is making me wince. I had an ingrown toenail that was so swollen in high school, that I had to take penicillan for a week before the doc. could shove what must have been a bushel of cotton under there to make it grow out. Worst pain of my life. Running hedge trimmers into my thigh was a close second.

In college my right middle finger tip pad was tender one day. Didn't think anything of it. day goes by, starts to hurt when it touched anything, but was just swollen and red. day three and finger tip is bigger, ultra tender and pulsing. there's a tiny spec of white, sort of "inside". Touched it with a pen tip and hurt like crazy. Got the exacto knife out and started cutting. 3mm in I hit paydirt and some serious amount of white fluid pulsed out followed by an amazing feeling of relief. A little more fishing around and pulled out a small splinter from what seemed like the core of my finger.

Can't say 100%, but probably was from an oar in Crew. It was a marvelous feeling to let all that pressure out.

then there was the time I ripped the skin on my arm open down to the fascia while cutting up a car. the skin split apart and little globs of fat and blood drops sat atop the white sheath. Didn't hurt much and was pretty neat looking.

Yesterday I got some shampoo in my eye and it really hurt!

Cried like a baby for hours!

and it was the real stuff... not that baby shampoo...

Gheeze Shawn, jam a exacto knife 3mm under your fingernail? What's next... DIY vasectomy?
:p

QUOTE: "if you were nearby I'd give you a fking handjob"
______

OOPS ...much more information that we needed! (Those crazy Canadians!)

Carry on however!

i said it , girly methods and resulting girly behaviour

:D

I do have a 16-stitch long scar on my left cheek. Shaving with a chainsaw isn't a good idea. :)

of the very few and random good things about me, is a high tolerance for pain. Unfortunately, when you couple that with the level of inquisitiveness normally found in an 8-year-old, you're bound to get yourself in trouble more than most.;)

From the title of your thread, I was certain this was going to be about those pills and creams sold in those ads at the back of certain magazines.

Back to the original question, does drawing salve really work?

I smeared the stuff all over myself and I couldn't draw for $hit. So my experience is that no, it doesn't work.