How to Treat Sea Urchin Stings

Three days ago, my friends and I were out of town on one of the popular beaches here in the Philippines. It was a long waited vacation as plans to the nearest resorts in our home town were usually not going through. Finally, it became a reality when one of my college barkada thought of an idea of going outside Bulacan. He reserved a 2 days one night package. It was a fun packed vacation until I accidentally stepped on a sea urchin wandering underneath the sea. According to the article that I’ve read over the internet, sea urchins usually goes to the shallow sandy parts of the sea or just hiding under the crevices of the corals.

Sea Urchins by: elle-ellestinkertoes.blogspot.com

If you got stung by a sea urchin, these are the steps that you should follow:

Remove the Spines

                   First step you’ve got to do is to remove the spine as quickly as possible. The best way to remove it is by using tweezers, using this tool you can remove all the spines inside your foot. It will somehow alleviate pain once the spines are slowly removed.  If you do not have tweezers, you can just your finger nails or fingers to remove it. If you can’t remove it by your finger nails, you can choose to leave it that way or cut it by a nail cutter which leaves smaller portions of spines under your feet.

Soak Affected Area with Vinegar/Hot Water

                After removing the spines or even with spines in, soak or wash the affected with vinegar. Soak it from 30-40 minutes. Sources from the net says that vinegar help in dissolving the spines and alleviating the pain on the affected area. If you do not have vinegar, you can use warm water as an alternative.

Wash it Water and Soap

                Finally, wash it to water and soap and put an anti-bacterial cream if possible. This step will ensure that you’ll be able to walk with it without infections.

                As for my own experience, I just did steps one and two, though worst is I didn’t have tweezers with me so I just cut it with nail cutter. I washed my affected with vinegar for 30 minutes and it’s like magic! Soreness was gone instantly.   

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