Bread Poultice
When I was about 5 I was playing in my garden in the west of Ireland and I got a splinter in my finger. I wouldn’t let anyone touch it for a day or two and it became infected. I remember going to my Granny’s house on the weekend and she managed to convince me to let her see it.
She put slices of white bread into a basin and poured boiling water over them – then she applied it to my finger and wrapped it in muslin.
It took a few evenings of this type of treatment for the splinter to finally surface but when it did the skin was clean and uninfected.
The best thing about this type of treatment was that it was virtually painless.
I have heard about this type of treatment being used for lots of ailments from gangrene to all types of infections.
From Ireland in the 1980s
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Do you know of any alternative approaches? Are you aware of any similar ones?
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Serena says:
28 January | 12:51
I am sure there are different types of poultice out there I would be interested in hearing some of them.
29 January | 13:06
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davidkin says:
30 January | 19:24
What a great story Serena !! Bread poultice is a very Irish remedy. Bread contains a high amount of penicillin and that is what cured your infection. I have heard of charcoal poultices and other types too - but bread certainly is the most accessible and common of these. I would be interested to know if you have used it in your adult life at all?
mozza says:
20 December | 01:28
i had a crush injury to my foot in early october. a toe was broken and i was put on strong antibiotics. in novemeber the wound was still inflamed and i was put on 2 antibiotics to be taken simultaneously (all penicillin based). after a week the swelling had gone down a bit but the momemt i stopped taking the tablets two swellings (boil like) came back. my mother suggested bread and sugar poultice so fed up with the pills i gave it a go. i soaked a piece of bread in hot milk, squeezed it out, put a teaspoon of sugar on the ball of bread and applied it to the wound. i then cling filmed over it all. first night the smaller lesion burst, and the main swelling went dark red, second night the main swelling burst, and i'm now on the third night as there is still some infection but nothing like last week. extraordinary wish i had done this months ago.
mozza says:
20 December | 01:29
yes am an adult!
travelbab says:
25 February | 21:31
I let all of my splinters fester out ie leave them until a blister forms around it. Even without a poultice they come out easily and without damage to the skin given 48 hrs.