There is a question about what happens if you don't take out a splinter.

It can be a freeing feeling to remove your shoes and walk barefoot during the warm spring and hot summer, until the deck sticks your exposed foot with a splinter.

You can't get it out of the skin because it's so small.If you just left it in, what would happen?

It's best to leave a splinter in the body and not wait and see if it develops into a problem, said Jones, who works at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.Is it true that rusty nails give you tetanus?

Jones told Live Science that the skin is a physical barrier.It's easier forbacteria to get under the skin if a splinter breaks it.The splinter may hold on for a free ride into the bloodstream or it may make its way in through the open gates after the incursion.

If a person who is not up to date on their tetanus boosters is exposed to the tetanus bacteria, it can cause serious harm to their nervous system.

Jones said that he would recommend that you not leave a splinter in place.She said to just seek health care if you can't grab it with your hands.

Dr. Jefry Biehler is the chair of the department of pediatrics at the hospital.If removing a splinter at home will cause a lot of bleeding, then go to a health care center, where professionals can remove the splinter using clean, sterile instruments.

The body won't absorb the invader if the splinter is not removed.Biehler said the body will try to push the splinter out.There could be swelling and redness in that area if the splinter causes an inflammatory reaction.There are pockets of pus that can help expel the splinter.

If the inflammatory response continues for a number of days or weeks, the area can sometimes develop agranuloma.This is a protective bubble of immune cells that surround a foreign object.

Sometimes the body can expel a splinter from the skin without causing an inflammatory response.Sometimes the splinter can stay in the skin.

Biehler said that one of his nurse friends has had a thorn in her hand for 40 years.He said that it doesn't cause her any pain.She has been fine for 40 years.He said that the skin closed on top of the splinter made it less likely that she would get an infection.

There is a line between what needs to be seen by a doctor and what can be left alone.In general, splinters you get around the house or those that come from plant materials, such as wood, need to come out because the body reacts to it.

He said that foreign bodies lodged in the skin should be evaluated by a health care professional.