Toe Bro: So, do you remember the day that this happened?
Patient: It's-- it's almost two months now.
TB: And did you step on something and, right away, you knew it happened?
P: No, I just-- I just felt that, for quite a while, I didn't look and then when I see there's a little, like, water inside.
TB: [gasps] So you had a little blister.
P: And I just asked my husband to take it off but he said, "it will come out by itself, the skin will push it,"
then I waited and waited and I noticed that-- at home, I don't really feel it because I’m wearing a very soft slipper.
TB: Yes.
P: But, every time I get out, it hurts.
TB: So, looking at it, it definitely looks like you have a hair.
P: It's not a hair, only-- or a wood.
TB: It looks like a hair.
P: How could it get inside my skin?
TB: So-- P: [laughs]
TB: You and me, we're-- we got the Filipino hair; sometimes-- well, I have no hair but-- [laughs]
We Asians have sharp hair and, sometimes, if the hair is standing up on the ground
or the way we step, it can actually pierce the skin.
P: Okay. TB: And what happens - the body knows something's there that it's not (supposed to be)
so, sometimes we get a blister or we get a wound
and it's almost exactly like a wood splinter but it's just a piece of hair.
I have barbers come in who do house calls and they always get the hair stuck in their foot.
P: Okay. I thought it's just like a wood but it feels like it's so sharp,
sometimes I feel like I’m standing on a rock.
TB: For sure. [laughs]
So, this is what we're gonna do - very gentle, okay? All I’m doing is lightly scraping
the dead skin to see if I can get that little piece to come out, okay?
We shouldn't need to numb it because it's so close to the surface, it's very, very, very close.
So, you just relax.
And, so, when I saw your high arch, I said, "that's not common for Filipina to have high arch."
P: Oh, really? It's not comm-- [laughs]
TB: Filipinos mostly have flat feet, yes.
So, when I saw you with the high arch--
P: Actually, I’m limping now when I’m walking, so...
TB: I can see this is a long hair.
It wants to live here.
You okay? P: Yeah, I’m okay.
TB: So, how many times did you try to use a little pin?
P: I-- I think it's more than five times and the last one, I tried it last Monday
and then it hurts so much yesterday. [laughs]
TB: I know and we're still fully booked up.
So, we tried to fit you and, luckily,
we had a cancellation
and so I told Julie,
"do you remember that girl with the splinter? Get her in right now!" [laughs]
P: [laughs]
TB: That's what I said to her, I remember what was going on.
P: And she said, "it's in August, I can't wait until August!" TB: No, we're almost six weeks out
and I felt so bad so that's why--
P: My friend [inaudible], she said, "he's good, book for him!" and then she said, "watch-- watch the YouTube"
and then I said, "oh, I can't finish the YouTube!" [laughs] TB: [laughs]
P: She said that you removed her son and her husband-- he also fixed the problem on their foot.
TB: Well, it's what I do, that's my job.
So, now we have that last little bit left so it's almost all gone.
P: Really? That's good.
Because every time I poke it with needle, it hurts.
And I ask my husband, "can you do it?"
TB: So,
it was deep in here.
P: I can't believe it's a hair, I thought it's a wood
but it's so thin like a hair.
TB: Yeah, it's very, very thin.
P: So, if I don't remove that, it will just keep on hurting.
TB: So, sometimes, splinters or pieces of hair like this - the body can push it out but if it's too deep,
it's so hard or it gets stuck in the skin that the body forms an abscess or a wound around it.
Yours needed a little help.
P: Yeah, I think because my husband just cut my children's hair and I think that's the time when I step on it.
TB: You gotta tell him, "you gotta clean better."
[laughs]
P: Yeah, then he'll tell me, "you have to clean it!" [laughs] TB: [laughs]
Last little bit.
You okay here? P: Yes, yes, I’m okay.
It's good because I don't feel anything right now like the one I used to when I’m poking it myself.
TB: So, this is the last little bit.
Amazing, you're very-- you're doing very good.
It is straight in there.
Very, very deep.
You okay still?
P: Yes, okay, I'm good.
I have a friend who has a son with Down syndrome and he said that-- she said that, "I think his feet hurts"
because every time he-- and then-- because sometimes he's still walking--
TB: Yes, yes.
P: So, there's a callus and he just-- she just wants me to ask you "can you deal with kids with special needs?"
TB: Yes, I do.
P: Okay.
TB: I do.
P: And she asked me that I could just give your number if you can deal with children with special need.
TB: I can, I can.
So, let me see if I can grab that little piece, the deepest part.
P: Oh. [laughs]
TB: Nothing should hurt, that was-- you know, we got it all out.
You okay? P: Yes, yes.
TB: There it is.
Little piece, look at that.
P: I can't see it. [laughs]
Oh, yeah, it's so tiny.
TB: That was the very end. The other pieces were coming out so that was the deepest, deepest piece.
So, let me take one last look, so put the leg nice and straight.
Nope, that's it.
Very deep.
Yep.
P: Yay, thank you! [laughs] TB: You're welcome. Okay, let me wipe it down.
There we go.
So,
no more piece but that was a deep hole. I want to get up close and take a look at this. Deep, deep, deep.
Look at that hole.
All from a piece of hair.
P: Really?
TB: That's why I cut off my hair so I don't get splinters. P: [laughs]
TB: That's my-- that's my secret. [laughs]
It looks very good; you're going to feel much better.
No need to put a band-aid or anything because there's no open wound or open sore.
You'll be fine.
P: Okay.