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VANA! Hawaiian Sea Urchin
by brady on Jun.02, 2008, under General
Ok guys check this out, sorry if this is graphic. Went surfing today and like the kook that i am, i fell on Vana, for the non-locals it’s a hawaiian sea urchin. My foot is in pain and swollen. lucky i found this article on the web on how to treat it, so if this every happens to you on a trip to Hawaii or the next time you go surfing read below.
How to Treat a Sea Urchin Injury
Treat a Sea Urchin Injury
Last winter, while visiting my family in Hawaii, I fell off a surfboard and slammed my foot into a patch of sea urchins! The bottom of my foot was impaled by over 95 spines (I stopped counting after a while). Unfortunately, nobody seemed to know how to treat the urchin injury, so this is advice from my personal experience!
Things You’ll Need:
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Antibiotic ointment
- Epsom salts
- Bucket
- Saftey pin
- Tweezers
Step1
Don’t panic (I did)! Sea urchin spines and venom (released from seizing organs called pedicellaria) are not lethal. The injury is very painful but the spines are made mostly of calcium carbonate, so they can be dissolved in the body over time. Different sea urchin injuries are more severe than others. Some spines can be very deep and some can be more superficial.
Step 2
Start by applying an antiseptic (I frequently rinsed my foot with hydrogen peroxide) and pull out protruding spines with tweezers. The spines are very brittle and most will break off at the entry point to the skin- thus making it hard to fully remove them.
Step 3
Soak the affected area in a bucket of very warm water with Epsom salts. You should continue doing this several times a day for the duration of the injury. This helps with the pain and also softens the skin for spine removal. It may even encourage the spines to either dissolve or be expelled from the skin.
Step 4
After soaking, I found the best device for removing the thinner, more superficial spines was with a STERILIZED pin (safety or sewing pin). This is because the spines seem to dissolve into small soft fragments and meld with your skin.
Step 5
Dry off affected area and apply antibiotic ointment. Take some painkillers/anti-inflammatory medicines to help with the pain and swelling. Elevate the wound if possible.
Step 6
Do not worry about any purple/black dye released into the skin, it should disappear in a few days. If you’re injury is less severe, the spines will probably dissolve or your body will eject them in 3 weeks. If it is more severe like mine, continue to the next step.
Step 7
If the sea urchin spines are larger and deeper, they may remain in the body longer and there is risk of infection. Keep a close watch on the injury and see a doctor right away if there is chronic swelling and redness. Sometimes you will see and/or feel a hard lump called a ‘sarcoidal granuloma’, which is the body’s inflammatory response to a foreign object (the spine).
Step 8
My doctor prescribed me antibiotics and x-rayed my foot to view the deeper spines. She recommended surgery for some very deep spines, but I waited 2 more weeks and suddenly they were ejected by my body naturally!
Step 9
Sea urchin injuries vary widely, and there is no definite time frame for the spines to either dissolve in your foot and work their way out. I was picking out some minor spines 6 months later, and I have reason to believe there are still some in there over a year later. As long as the site is not infected, or causing you chronic pain, it should be ok to leave the spines alone (as mentioned earlier they are made of mostly the same components as human bones). Good luck, and remember I feel your pain!
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Robot Monkey Pants » Archives » Hawaii Trip, Day 2
February 15th, 2009 on 9:43 am[...] and drove back to the condo. After some research on the net to see what I should do, I found this, among other pages. That sure looked like my heel, and it was mighty tender to walk [...]





October 23rd, 2008 on 7:41 am
Heck braddah! Just pee on it. Its the best treatment, your own urine.
December 7th, 2008 on 1:07 pm
Soaking in vinegar works well… it disinfects the area and actually dissolves the spines, which is easier than trying to extract them. Warm vinegar works faster.
December 8th, 2008 on 10:29 am
I stood in a sea urchin about 2.5 weeks ago – got about 40 spines all over my foot. The xray showed some needles that are 1 -2 cm deep. I took anti-biotics to fight off any infection, but they are still swollen and red. Should I be concerned? In addition, did you experience what feels like muscular pain whilst your foot was still healing? Thanks!
January 3rd, 2009 on 9:04 pm
Ya just pee on it and and cut it out just be a man
January 13th, 2009 on 8:14 am
eey man this is good stuff just what i need for my project on sea urchins thanks
January 15th, 2009 on 3:44 pm
brah, vinegar work gud brah forealz
February 14th, 2009 on 5:55 am
igot some spines under my toenails two weeks ago doc told me to leave them if they got no pain or infection i heard the green ones are poisonous but i got stung by a black one in mexico
January 18th, 2010 on 1:49 am
wow lots of people posting here and stepping on vana!
March 10th, 2010 on 2:03 pm
yoh!! i just got home from beach. brah i also stpped on vana.dang! i tried using vinegar but it cooks of my foot..lolz so i decided to change my plan.. i used my pee..lol but it didn’t work..dang! so, im just gonna follow ur advice..hope it works. thanks dude!!
May 22nd, 2010 on 8:48 pm
wow my life would have been so much easier if i found this earlier! i was boogie boarding and my friend whos first time itt was in hawaii wanted my fins so i gave them to her and then i stepped in vana! but i thought i just scraped my foot on coral or something so i kept boogie boarding and freaked out when i got back on the beach! so i had someone pee on it
June 12th, 2010 on 6:12 pm
6 months ago, my first time snorkeling south of Kona-Kailua, I fell on my butt trying to make my way into the water with flippers on round slippery lava rocks. I was told to urinate on it, so I did. I was also told to soak in vinegar so I did. I saw a doc 4 days later who gave me antihistamine as he said I may have had an allergic reaction to vinegar causing my hand to swell up. Right now I’m wondering if my incident 6 months ago is causing the pain and swelling in my shoulder and elbow. It hurts now just to do a swim stroke in my shoulder and the pain in my elbow and shoulder is similar in nature to the pain I had in my hand when I contacted the vonna.