When Should You See a Podiatrist for a Foreign Body in Your Foot?

Your feet take thousands of steps every day, many of them barefoot or only wearing socks. With the amount of contact your bare feet can have with the ground, it’s no wonder getting foreign bodies, like splinters, glass, and thorns, stuck in your feet is a common problem.

Often, you can remove a foreign body from your foot at home using basic first aid, but other times, you need to visit board-certified podiatrist Thomas Rambacher, DPM, and his team at Podiatry Hotline Foot & Ankle in Mission Viejo, California to get it safely removed. Learn from Dr. Rambacher when you need to visit the podiatrist to remove a foreign object in your foot.

When to see a podiatrist when something is stuck in your foot

If you or a loved one have something stuck in your foot, here’s when you should seek assistance removing it at Podiatry Hotline Foot & Ankle.

You can’t get the foreign body out yourself

If the object isn’t stuck too deeply in your skin, you can often get a splinter or other foreign body out of your foot with home treatment. Start out by soaking your foot in warm water, which reduces inflammation and softens your skin.

From there, you can often remove the object using a clean pair of tweezers or carefully washed hands. However, if you’ve tried to remove the object using this method and it hasn’t worked, or you’re nervous about attempting to remove it at home, our doctors can remove it for you.

The foreign body is deeply embedded in your foot or extremely painful

When the foreign body is deeply embedded in the skin or muscle of your foot, it can be dangerous to try to remove the object yourself. One sign of a deeply embedded object, along with it appearing stuck far into your skin, is the area feeling excruciatingly painful.

Your foot shows signs of infection

Foreign bodies have bacteria in them, and getting one in your foot increases your risk of developing an infection. If the area with the object stuck in it feels warm to the touch or is red, streaking, or filled with pus, our doctors need to prescribe antibiotics to treat the infection.

Additionally, you should make an appointment with Podiatry Hotline Foot & Ankle if you got a foreign body stuck in your foot and haven’t had a tetanus shot in over five years. You might need to get a booster to protect yourself from developing tetanus.

You have diabetes

You should get any wound from a foreign body evaluated by our doctors if you have diabetes. With diabetes, your risk increases of developing a diabetic wound or ulcer, which can develop serious complications if it’s not properly treated.

Getting a foreign body removed at Podiatry Hotline Foot & Ankle

Our team of doctors is experienced at removing foreign bodies embedded in your foot, no matter how severe. The method our team uses for removal depends on how severely the body is embedded in your foot.

Our podiatrists can remove some objects quickly with sterile equipment, while those more deeply embedded require a short in-office surgical procedure where we anesthetize your foot before surgically removing the foreign body. Our team might prescribe antibiotics if your foot appears infected or administer a tetanus shot if you haven’t had one recently.

When a foreign body is stuck in your foot and won’t come out at home, our podiatrists at Podiatry Hotline Foot & Ankle can help. Book your appointment now with our team online or over the phone.