A tiny thin piece of wood or metal which gets under the skin and can be irritating and cause infection.
Sharply pointed fragments that enter the skin. Most splinters can be removed with tweezers and a needle. To avoid infection, instruments must first be sterilized by cleaning them in rubbing alcohol. Deeply embedded splinters require removal by a physician. A splinter in an eye should not be removed by anyone other than a physician. Instead, both eyes should be covered loosely and the person with the injury should be taken to an ophthalmologist or hospital emergency department.