Fully Pierced my foot with an earring on the carpet. Now what?

October 2, 2023 7:14 PM

Details beyond the jump for the queasy.

Post type Earring fell of my ear and embedded itself in the carpet. I walked accross the carpet and the post went right into my foot, the big pad where the big toe attaches. pulled it out, got a tiny drop of blood, proceeded about my day.

Now it's ~12 hours later, and i gotta say my foot is throbbing a bit. Also i went Kayaking this afternoon and I am pretty sure i stepped on the lake bed with this foot so now i am like "oh no i got some lake muck in the wound!!! Probably i gonna need to cut my leg off!!!"

foot pad is a little swollen, definitely it feels kinda... itchy? I am walking kinda on the outer side of my foot to favor it a bit.

YNMMD but what is next for me? Tetanus shot? can that wait a few days to do that when i get back to my home city? How do i know when it's bad?
it definitely went deep in there, like a full 3/4". it's supposedly sterling silver, but maybe played

posted by wowenthusiast to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

Go to urgent care. Put antibiotic goop on the wound. Puncture wounds introduce germs beyond the skin, so they're particularly nasty. Tetanus is endemic in dirt, and could be present on your foot. Not likely, but if you haven't had a booster in 10 or more years, they'll probably do it at the urgent care place. I would not wait. Call your doctor's office 1st thing, ask them.
posted by theora55 at 7:37 PM on October 2, 2023 [24 favorites]

I feel your pain. Stepped on a couple sewing needles lost in carpet in my day. No fun. Definitely get the tetanus shot ASAP. Infection may or may not be a thing but that can be managed. The thing you absolutely don't want is tetanus.
posted by natteringnabob at 7:44 PM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

My dad would soak our wounds in extremely hot water immediately after we sustained them. Later in life when I had the full burden of my own health care and no insurance or money or car and the ER was a faraway, unimaginable dream, I not once but twice, always involving a big onion and a dull knife, got really deep cuts in my left index finger. The worst one, I rinsed it off and wrapped it in gauze or something and went to sleep. Woke up hours later with it throbbing disconcertingly. Tried the fatherly very hot water soak and it worked immediately. Finger stopped howling and I went back to sleep. It looks a bit Frankenstein today, but it didn't give me sepsis and kill me, so... yay for Father, I guess. He was pretty much the dad from Mosquito Coast, though, when it came to medical care, so if you do have access to an ER and a tetanus shot, I'd definitely do that pronto. And actually come to think of it, the time I stepped on a nail and it went through my shoe and into my foot he didn't screw around and they dragged me to the doctor for a shot. Because, exactly: puncture wound = whole other deal.
posted by Don Pepino at 8:03 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

I've had more puncture wounds that went all the way through than I care to remember.

I've always been lucky despite some of them happening in worse than lake muck.

Hot water soak, antibiotic ointment, sure. Good ideas.
Best idea is to go get a tetanus shot. They're good for about 10 years, and I say no fucking thank you to tetanus, thanks.
posted by Acari at 8:17 PM on October 2, 2023

Are you up to date on your tetanus boosters? If not, I say go to urgent care where you are now. For infection you could see how it goes, but tetanus is not something to mess with.
posted by LadyOscar at 9:20 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

Nthing tetanus booster. They’ll likely tell you this at urgent care/ER, but signs of infection to watch out for and seek more medical care for are: spreading redness, heat (skin is hotter than normal in the area, throbbing, inflammation not going away. And if you have any bad smells, puss/oozing, etc. definitely go to the ER.

In general, always wash wounds with mild soap and warm water as soon as possible afterwards. You can get saline wound wash for cleaning deeper wounds at the drug store. I’ve also used rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to sterilize wounds, but am told those are for surface wounds only and not great for deeper puncture wounds.
posted by eviemath at 1:02 AM on October 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

(On re-read: nthing asap tetanus booster, not waiting. You want to get that within 48 hours of the injury.)
posted by eviemath at 1:06 AM on October 3, 2023 [3 favorites]

Tetanus shot for sure, ASAP. In my experience in the US, you can usually get this quicker at a pharmacy than at urgent care (I got my last booster at a Walgreens while on vacation because I accidentally stabbed myself with my filthy Swiss Army knife). I would prioritize the tetanus shot and just keep an eye on the foot - if it feels at all hot or swollen, then urgent care/ER.
posted by mskyle at 3:38 AM on October 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: thanks everybody-
i am right at 24 hours and gonna head for a tetanus shot as soon as the pharmacy opens at 9.
much much much appreciated :)
posted by wowenthusiast at 4:13 AM on October 3, 2023 [11 favorites]

Thanks for updating.
posted by theora55 at 4:26 PM on October 3, 2023

Response by poster: Well the pharmacy doesn't take walk-ins these days but I remembered got a TDAP booster 5 years ago to hang out with some babies. Still gonna head to the proper doctor tomorrow morning because it is swollen and i am limpy.

Thanks again!
posted by wowenthusiast at 6:12 PM on October 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

Hmm, it sounds like it’s getting worse? Are you staying with someone (family or friends) overnight? Keep a close eye on your temperature and alertness (when awake; maybe set an alarm to take your temperature halfway through the night) levels and please head to the ER right away if you start running a fever. The other thing you sometimes have to worry about with cuts and puncture wounds, in addition to tetanus, is necrotizing fasciitis. It’s fairly rare (much rarer than tetanus, though I have known three people so far who have had it), but develops extremely quickly once symptoms do start, and if not caught early enough then limb amputation can be necessary to avoid full-body sepsis (this was the result in two of the three cases of my personal acquaintance; the other was in hospital with IV antibiotics for quite a while).
posted by eviemath at 6:30 PM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

(The two people I know who had to have limbs amputated both had extenuating circumstances at the time that made them more susceptible to necrotizing fasciitis, as the link describes - I don’t want to overly scare you, because it is quite rare and you will almost surely be fine. But a symptom check partway through the night might be wise just because the potential impact of the quite rare event is so serious.)
posted by eviemath at 6:35 PM on October 3, 2023

Response by poster: thanks eviemath! this is much appreciated and practical advice :)
posted by wowenthusiast at 2:34 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]