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Discussion

pencil lead

What do you when a student accidentally stabs with pencil lead?

I know pencil doesn't have actually have lead, its graphite and harmless. A student came in with a note from the teacher asking if i could remove it with tweezers, it was on his palm. However there is not a visible pencil tip , the area is red and looks stained from the graphite. So i sent him back after washing the area with soap and water and applying a bandaid, and giving him an ice pack. He comes back 3 hours later with the same note, because he feels there is something in his hand, i looked at it again but i don't see anything but a small amount of skin peeled and the grayish color. He still wanted me to look for it, but when i used the tweezers to look for the pencil lead, he jumped up and i told him i didn't want to continue if it hurt him. So i wrote a note to the teacher letting her know pencil lead is not real lead and i was unable to remove anything. Then the student tells me , the teacher said she wanted to e-mail his mom about the pencil incident.

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    • Featured Replies

    Same as you, email the parents. I have a black spot in Palm of my hand from 20 years ago from the same situation. I don't know if any is in there but it healed fine.

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    No way am I going "fishing" for something harmless like a bit of pencil lead or small splinter. The risk of causing more harm is great and the benefits are almost non-existent. Kids hands are full of germs, even if they appear clean, and with the incidence of community-aquired MRSA on the rise, it's not worth it. Like you said, it is unlikely that a young child will sit still enough, anyway.

    Soap, water, bandage, ice pack and note home. The end.

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    i just tell them to scrub scrub scrub with soap and water

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    This happens probably once a month at our school. Sometimes it is pens. I also wash it, give a cool pack, etc. If the wound seems VERY painful or if the student claims it feels like there is something in there (that I can't even see), I call parents and refer to their ped. Maybe that's overkill, but I also am not going to go digging around with tweezers!

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    I do not dig for anything...sorry folks unless it is sticking out..Im not digging. Why so I can be accused of causing an infection?

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    • Expert

    i still have a bit of pencil "lead" in my arm from the time there was a fire drill and the boy behind me stopped quickly and

    his pencil (which he wasn't supposed to have with him but did) went into my arm just below the elbow.

    so does my husband, from where his best friend dared him to jab is own arm with a newly sharpened pencil to see whether

    or not the point would break!

    we were both in the fourth grade -- what is it with nine-year-old boys anyway?!

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    • Author

    Thanks for the replies, did not know it would leave a permanent stain , never had that happen to me. I didn't think i could do much for it other than wash it with soap and water. It's my second year as a school nurse, it really bothers me when I am not sure what to do with these little insignificant issues that teachers get worried about.

    Good to know , just in case mom asks what she should do about it.

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