At 3 a.m. on Friday night, I heard glass breaking. I jumped out of bed, deadly certain I would find an enemy invader shattering windows in my living room. When I didn't hear any other noise, I tiptoed out of my room to find a wine glass had fallen off of the wine rack in the kitchen, and smashed into a tumbler on the way down, creating a loud noise of the kind you don't want to hear after midnight.
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The fix was easy enough. I swept up the broken glass, then vacuumed the room to pick up any stray shards. However, glass is especially tricky to clean up completely for two reasons: it has a habit of breaking into impossibly tiny pieces, and once it does, it's practically invisible.
The following morning I immediately stepped on a tiny shard of glass with my heel. At first it felt like a bee sting, a small annoyance, and I swatted at my heel absentmindedly and kept walking towards the coffee maker. I was on my way to the kitchen table with my fresh-made cup before my heel struck the floor again in the same spot: Ouch!
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I realized the glass shard was still in my foot, and when my heel made contact with the ground at a certain angle, the pain was immediate and intense. I bent over, trying to examine my heel, and asked my roommate to try and tweeze out the shard as I held a flashlight on it. No such luck—neither of us could see the shard with a flashlight or magnifying glass.
I tried to walk some more, because Of Course I Am Tougher Than A Tiny Glass Shard That Is Too Small To Even See. But alas, I was not. I was wincing and yelping and soon, I was limping, too, fully aware that I now had probably foolishly pushed the glass further into my heel.
That's when it was time to take action, and figure out a home solution to remove a tiny piece of glass from under my skin. I texted friends and relatives and set myself on a Google search to find the best cure and save what was left of my weekend. The advice ranged from the questionable ("put Elmer's Glue on your cut so that the glue will dry and take the glass out") to the implausible ("I put molasses on mine when I was a kid,") but surprisingly, some of them worked. I settled on some advice from my mom and the internet. Here's what I tested:
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How I got glass out of my foot with natural home remedies
Though I tested them for removing glass from my foot, these home remedies are also equally useful in getting out splinters and slivers, the common curse of walking around barefoot in the summertime.
Honey
I cleaned the wound with soap and water. I decided to try out honey, a natural (and sticky!) disinfectant. I applied a dollop of honey and a bandaid on top. This didn't get the glass out, but it was an easy, natural way to keep the wound clean.
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Duct Tape
This remedy involves putting duct tape over the cut and then ripping it off. Though this was also a dubious suggestion, I got the point: the shard of glass, if it was sticking out enough, would stick to the tape once I applied it to the skin. I tried this about 5 times with no success, but I think that's because the shard had already penetrated too far into my skin. I turned to soaking to draw the glass to the surface.
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Warm water soak
A soak will make your skin wrinkly and the shard or sliver more accessible. I did this for about 20 minutes, but I tried the white vinegar before I attempted to tweeze.
White vinegar soak
I read that white vinegar, an antiseptic 5% acetic acid solution, can be a powerful ally in pushing out an invisible piece of glass or splinter from your foot, so I gave it a try (White vinegar is also the cure for sea urchin stings, if you happen to be reading this while sunning yourself in Hawaii or on the Amalfi coast instead of having just broken wine glasses in your living room). I soaked my foot for 30 minutes, tried to tweeze it with no luck, then did 30 minutes more. I still couldn't get the glass out, though I think at this point it was moving to the surface and part of it was that I was squeamish about worsening the cut.
Baking soda paste under a bandage
Baking soda is an antiseptic, and mixed with water, it can help soothe the skin's irritation, and in doing so, expel a splinter or sliver of glass. After cleaning my foot, I applied a baking soda paste (mix water and baking soda in a small bowl to create a paste—there aren't exact measurements, just enough water to form a thick paste) to the cut, and then put a bandage over it and waited three hours. I also went out and sat in the sun during this time, which may have helped the baking soda paste dry faster. When I came back in, I gently wiped off the baking soda paste (it may come off when you lift the bandage, but mine didn't) and tried to grab at the cut with the tweezers.
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This time, I heard the tweezers scrape against glass. BINGO. I kept pulling until it seemed like there was some movement, although I still couldn't see anything. Then, I use my fingers to spread open the wound, and out came the glass. My roommate grabbed it with the tweezers, and I was a free woman again.
Overall: I would strongly recommend the white vinegar soak followed by the baking soda paste and tweezing (with soap and/or honey to disinfect first). Use a flashlight while tweezing to try to catch a glint of the glass. It also helps to gently pull the cut slightly apart if you can.
Gina Tomaine is a Philadelphia-based writer and editor. Her work has appeared in Yoga Journal, Philadelphia magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Boston Globe, Women's Health, Good Housekeeping, and Runner's World, among others. She's a RYT-200 yogi, neophyte tarot enthusiast, and unapologetic Scorpio. She enjoys the occasional piña colada. Follow her on Twitter/Insta @gtomaine.
