Tweezers are often considered an essential part of a first aid kit, and while many people will know them as the tools commonly used for plucking hair and deboning fish, they are also an incredibly handy piece of medical equipment, and since they’re so small, there really isn’t a reason not to keep them in your kit.
However, it’s no use storing a pair of tweezers away if you don’t know how to use them, or more specifically, what sorts of injuries they will be required for since they are actually a very versatile tool that can be used for multiple different scenarios.
Today, we’re going to take a look at why you should consider always keeping some tweezers in your first aid kit, along with the types of tweezers that work the best for medical purposes, and when you should consider using them if an accident occurs.
Why Are Tweezers So Important To Keep In A First Aid Kit?
Tweezers are very similar to scissors, in the sense that both are usually considered smaller additions to a first aid kit, but are both still incredibly important and essential for helping to relieve pain after a person has picked up a nasty injury.
The primary difference however is that while scissors can remove obstructions by slicing them apart, tweezers simply remove debris by carefully pulling it out steadily and carefully, which is something the normal human hand can often struggle to do without hurting the individual even more.
No matter how we end up with a wound, whether it’s from taking a sudden fall or cutting ourselves with a kitchen knife by accident, it’s always going to leave behind a lot of mess in the skin that needs to be removed, otherwise, it can end up leading to a lot more pain.
Because of how tiny tweezers are, they are therefore the most accurate tools we have for removing the smallest obstructions from our body, some of which may be too small to even be able to see with our own eyes.
Different Uses For Tweezers In First Aid
While tweezers may be small in their appearance, and are usually very cheap to buy depending on the material you choose to go with, they actually have multiple different medical uses.
Let’s take a look at the different ways you can use tweezers medically, and when you should bring them out from your first aid kit.
Removing Debris
As mentioned previously, a wound is almost always going to be full of debris, whether it’s glass, wood, or dirt, so you’re going to need a pair of tweezers to pull each piece out carefully without yanking it out, which many of us tend to do without realizing it with our own hands.
Dirt or foreign objects that are left in a wound can highly increase the rate of an infection, so you should always keep a pair of tweezers handy not only to ease the pain in the short term, but also to ensure that the wound heals properly in the long run.
Pull Out A Stinger
While wasps and hornets don’t tend to leave behind their stingers after they sting a person, bees always will, and if you’ve ever experienced the sharp burning pain that comes from a bee sting, you know that it is one of the most unpleasant feelings out there, so removing the stinger immediately should be your top priority.
When using tweezers to remove a stinger, make sure that you only lightly press down on the stinger and never use too much pressure while handling it, otherwise, it can cause more venom to release into the skin.
Take Out A Splinter
Splinters usually don’t cause a lot of damage to the skin as long as they are removed quickly, however, they can definitely be very irritating and can easily put anyone in a bad mood for the day, so it’s well worth removing them by using a pair of tweezers.
It’s very common for splinters to appear under a person’s fingernail, and when this happens, there is no tool that’s going to be more suited to pulling it out than a pair of tweezers since you will only need to grab the very tip of the splinter to safely remove it.
If the splinter is firmly under the fingernail and you can’t get a grip on it, try placing either baking soda, banana peels, or potato skins under the skin since this will cause it to swell up, pushing the splinter outwards toward the nail so that you can grab it with the tweezers.
Handling Bandages
If you have been healing a person’s wound with your first aid kit and have used a few bandages to stop their bleeding or to hold a dressing in place, you don’t want to be using your bare hands to get rid of the bandages, otherwise it can cause cross-contamination.
Therefore, an easy way to handle bloody bandages without putting yourself at risk is simply using tweezers to pick them up and dispose of them.
What To Do After Removing Debris From A Wound
Once you have removed any glass, wood, or dirt from a wound with your tweezers, use an antibiotic cream or ointment to help keep the skin moist while also ensuring that it doesn’t become infected.
You may not always need to use these if it’s only a minor scrape or cut, but it can still be worth applying a very thin layer since it will still boost the body’s natural healing process, making it a lot faster and reducing the risk of any scarring showing up.
You will then need to place a clean non stick bandage over the wound to keep any germs away. Make sure to change the bandage at least once a day so it remains effective, and check on the wound at the same time to see how close it is to being fully healed.
Best Material For Tweezers
When you’re picking up a new pair of tweezers, there will be more than a few options for you to choose from, however, when it comes to medical use, stainless steel and titanium tweezers will always be the best choices.
This is because they are rust-resistant, hypoallergenic, and very easy to clean and maintain, so they will easily last for several years, or even decades, as long as they are properly cared for.
You can still use plastic tweezers in the same way you would with the other materials, but they are not going to last anywhere near as long and can be a lot less reliable because of how much weaker the material is.
Because of this, plastic tweezers are much better suited to technical settings since they will not conduct a charge, so while they might look tempting because of how much cheaper they tend to be, if you want a tool that is guaranteed not to break down on you too easily, stainless steel and titanium are much more ideal for placing in a first aid kit.
Summary
When your packing a first aid kit with bandages, gloves, plasters, and eye dressings, it can be incredibly easy for tweezers to become somewhat of an afterthought, but now that you know how they can be used, you will also be fully aware of why they are considered so important.
