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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!