# Glochids from prickly pear cacti **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380 "2016-02-07T02:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jerry\_smissingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@jerry\_smissingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerry_smissingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/1 "2016-02-07T02:30:26Z")
Anyone have experience removing Glochidia either surgically or some other method? My friend had fallen in some prickly pears years ago and now the glochidias are surfacing. She says it feels like having fiberglass in her fingers and she is consumed with pulling them out with tweezers. About 3 months ago she went to a dermatologist and was put on Lamisil pills and cream which did help but she had to stop the pills because they are not liver friendly, so now she’s back to tweezering and is desperate to find medical attention for this however all doctors in this area say there is nothing that can be done. Surly folks that live in the dessert areas know of this and could possibly share some advice. Much appreciated ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/2 "2016-02-07T02:33:18Z")
> [@jerry\_smissingfinger](#): > > Anyone have experience removing Glochidia either surgically or some other method? > > My friend had fallen in some prickly pears years ago and now the glochidias are surfacing. **She says it feels like having fiberglass in her fingers and she is consumed with pulling them out with tweezers.** I’ll take Ironic OP/Username combos for $200, Alex. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/3 "2016-02-07T04:03:26Z")
Tweezers and a magnifying glass… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/4 "2016-02-07T04:33:39Z")
> [@jerry\_smissingfinger](#): > > Anyone have experience removing Glochidia either surgically or some other method? > > My friend had fallen in some prickly pears years ago and now the glochidias are surfacing. She says it feels like having fiberglass in her fingers and she is consumed with pulling them out with tweezers. I’ve gotten nasty little prickly pear glochids in my fingers. Tweezers and scraping the skin surface at an angle with a rough cloth got most of them out and the rest apparently worked out on their own within days. Has the doctor actually confirmed foreign bodies emerging from the skin, or from subcutaneous tissue into skin layers after an incident “years ago”? Sounds odd. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/5 "2016-02-07T05:27:44Z")
Your friend got infested with [parasitic mussel larvae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glochidium) from a close encounter with a desert cactus? Oh, cactus. [Here’s a blog post](http://lifeinthefastlane.com/cactus-spine-removal/), allegedly by an ER doctor, suggesting several methods. He seems to think leg-waxing wax is the best. But I don’t know about removing them such a long time after the fact. Sounds like they have become systemic in your friend’s system, emerging much later. You could only pick off the ones that emerge. How many more are there inside your friend? Do they reproduce on their own there like real parasites? Have to agree with **Jackmannii** : Sounds odd. A little touch of [Morgellon’s Disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons) perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/6 "2016-02-07T06:00:11Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I’ve gotten nasty little prickly pear glochids in my fingers. Tweezers and scraping the skin surface at an angle with a rough cloth got most of them out and the rest apparently worked out on their own within days. > > Has the doctor actually confirmed foreign bodies emerging from the skin, or from subcutaneous tissue into skin layers after an incident “years ago”? Sounds odd. There have been numerous accounts of foreign bodies being expelled a long time after an incident. > [@](#): > > ## At 5 a.m. on May 4th, 87-year-old Alfred Mann woke up with a strange object in his mouth. Reaching for his handkerchief, he spat out a half-inch metal shard – shrapnel from a battle injury he sustained 65 years ago. > > But the body has ways of dealing with foreign objects that are left behind. In some cases, bits of shrapnel will work their way to the skin’s surface and be expelled, although Rebagliati said the exact mechanism for this is unknown. > **[Shrapnel Dislodges From Man's Jaw After 65 Years](https://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=7700186&page=1)** > > At 5 a.m. on May 4th, Alfred Mann, 87, woke up with a strange object in his mouth. Reaching for his handkerchief, he spit out a half-inch metal shard -- shrapnel from a battle injury sustained 65 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![jerry\_smissingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@jerry\_smissingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerry_smissingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/7 "2016-02-07T15:33:57Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I’ve gotten nasty little prickly pear glochids in my fingers. Tweezers and scraping the skin surface at an angle with a rough cloth got most of them out and the rest apparently worked out on their own within days. > > Has the doctor actually confirmed foreign bodies emerging from the skin, or from subcutaneous tissue into skin layers after an incident “years ago”? Sounds odd. Yup I’ve seen them as well, very odd. ---
**Author:** ![jerry\_smissingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@jerry\_smissingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerry_smissingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/8 "2016-02-07T15:52:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Your friend got infested with [parasitic mussel larvae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glochidium) from a close encounter with a desert cactus? > > Oh, cactus. [Here’s a blog post](http://lifeinthefastlane.com/cactus-spine-removal/), allegedly by an ER doctor, suggesting several methods. He seems to think leg-waxing wax is the best. > > But I don’t know about removing them such a long time after the fact. Sounds like they have become systemic in your friend’s system, emerging much later. You could only pick off the ones that emerge. How many more are there inside your friend? Do they reproduce on their own there like real parasites? Have to agree with > > **Jackmannii** : Sounds odd. > > A little touch of [Morgellon’s Disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons) perhaps? Thanks for the all the good info! She has tried waxing and a bunch of other stuff and has really been doing her research and is hitting dead ends so I decided to try here. Actually one doctor treated her for a fungus that was starting to develop but that’s gone now. Does sound systemic, but they only come out of her finger tips unlike some folks who have them come out anywhere. Hope that doesn’t become the case and as a dude that thought alone scares me.:eek: We are reading that they do sort of reproduce or have a defense against white blood cells. Supposedly the Glochids create a hard shell pod thing around them to protect against the body’s immune system. That’s what she read anyway:confused: There is really no telling how many are in her. She gets a dark blotch in the area before they start emerging. She also said the feeling in that area is similar to the feeling of fiberglass in her skin. She is willing to fly to any doctor who can cure this 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/9 "2016-02-07T16:30:29Z")
Has she tried duct tape? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/10 "2016-02-07T17:04:07Z")
It sounds like she may be pulling them out too soon. As they work their way up, she pulls from the top and breaks it off below the surface. Then the epidermis heals over, and it takes a long time for the rest of it to break through again and get where she can grab hold of it. Rinse. Repeat. I would advise trying to protect the emerging bit and let it come all the way (or more of the way) out on its own. If she’s got a 1/4inch pricker in there, and she’s breaking it off 1 or 2 mm’s at a time, I can see how it might be several years before the process is complete. IANAD, but I did have an unfortunate run-in with a [raspberry bush](http://mommystudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/thorns.jpg) in my youth. As the prickers broke through to the skin the tiny point of sharp pain felt like a hellish burning itch. : shudder : Shingles are similar, but much worse. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/11 "2016-02-07T19:58:48Z")
> [@jerry\_smissingfinger](#): > > Actually one doctor treated her for a fungus that was starting to develop but that’s gone now. This, and the Lamisil (an antifungal) you say one doctor prescribed have nothing to do with prickly pear glochids. Any secondary infection (which is possible when one is impaled by thorns of any kind) is extremely unlikely to manifest years after exposure. > [@](#): > > Does sound systemic, but they only come out of her finger tips unlike some folks who have them come out anywhere. Uh, no they don’t. We are talking about very tiny, difficult to see hair-like projections that don’t migrate through the bloodstream or lymphatics to appear “anywhere” in the body. They are inert foreign bodies, so small that any embedded in the skin should long ago have been bound up in foreign body reaction and fibrosis, and either broken down or rendered unable to migrate through tissue under any conceivable circumstances. There could quite possibly be small lumps (granulomas) that are seen as irritating or disfiguring, but shouldn’t be itchy (unless constant scratching causes skin irritation) and don’t represent an active process. > [@](#): > > We are reading that they do sort of reproduce or have a defense against white blood cells. Supposedly the Glochids create a hard shell pod thing around them to protect against the body’s immune system. That’s what she read anyway:confused: Nope, none of that is true. > [@](#): > > all doctors in this area say there is nothing that can be done. Sounds like at least some may not think it’s a dermatologic problem. If it is, here’s an interesting idea: _“In perhaps the only controlled study (in rabbits), glochids (of Opuntia ficus-indica) were most effectively removed by first removing the larger clumps with tweezers and then applying glue to the affected area with gauze on top. After the glue dried, the gauze was grasped and peeled off. This resulted in removal of 95% of implanted spines.”_ [http://telemedicine.org/botanica/bot3.htm](http://telemedicine.org/botanica/bot3.htm) Before going further down the derm route, reading these and similar postings on the webmd forums might be eye-opening: > **[WebMD - Better information. Better health.](https://www.webmd.com)** > > The leading source for trustworthy and timely health and medical news and information. Providing credible health information, supportive community, and educational services by blending award-winning expertise in content, community services, expert... > **[WebMD - Better information. Better health.](https://www.webmd.com)** > > The leading source for trustworthy and timely health and medical news and information. Providing credible health information, supportive community, and educational services by blending award-winning expertise in content, community services, expert... ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/12 "2016-02-07T22:44:34Z")
Your friend may well have fallen into a prickly pear at some point in the past, but re the almost impossible nature (re only coming out her fingertips etc) of the symptoms it sounds like this is (at this point) more of a psychological issue like [Morgellons Disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons) than a physical issue. Fixing this type of delusion is almost impossible as it feels “real” to the sufferer. I would not invest much effort into trying to convince her it’s her imagination. The doctors are telling her “nothing” because they know thy are dealing with a psychotic mental condition not a dermatological issue. > [@](#): > > The main symptom of Morgellons is “a fixed belief” that fibers are embedded in or extruding from the skin.[5] People with the condition may also believe that they are infested with disease-causing agents described as things like insects, parasites, or hairs.[1] ---
**Author:** ![jerry\_smissingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@jerry\_smissingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerry_smissingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/13 "2016-02-08T00:45:51Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > It sounds like she may be pulling them out too soon. As they work their way up, she pulls from the top and breaks it off below the surface. Then the epidermis heals over, and it takes a long time for the rest of it to break through again and get where she can grab hold of it. Rinse. Repeat. > > I would advise trying to protect the emerging bit and let it come all the way (or more of the way) out on its own. If she’s got a 1/4inch pricker in there, and she’s breaking it off 1 or 2 mm’s at a time, I can see how it might be several years before the process is complete. > > IANAD, but I did have an unfortunate run-in with a [raspberry bush](http://mommystudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/thorns.jpg) in my youth. As the prickers broke through to the skin the tiny point of sharp pain felt like a hellish burning itch. : shudder : Shingles are similar, but much worse. Thanks for the tip advice taken Did you constantly wear band-aids when you had this experience? She uses Ambisol (sp) to numb her fingers and wraps them in band-aids before going out. ---
**Author:** ![jerry\_smissingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@jerry\_smissingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerry_smissingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/14 "2016-02-08T00:54:23Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Your friend may well have fallen into a prickly pear at some point in the past, but re the almost impossible nature (re only coming out her fingertips etc) of the symptoms it sounds like this is (at this point) more of a psychological issue like [Morgellons Disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons) than a physical issue. > > Fixing this type of delusion is almost impossible as it feels “real” to the sufferer. I would not invest much effort into trying to convince her it’s her imagination. The doctors are telling her “nothing” because they know thy are dealing with a psychotic mental condition not a dermatological issue. I would agree with you on this but the Doctors have physically seen them and even scoped them so she could get a look see at them. I’ve seen them as well so it’s very real. Does Morgellons come on suddenly or does it slowly come on over time due to a certain obsessive behavior such as say…picking? Cause i could see this becoming a compulsive behavior from constant obsessive picking. ---
**Author:** ![jerry\_smissingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@jerry\_smissingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerry_smissingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/15 "2016-02-08T01:02:35Z")
Oh and I forgot to mention… she works at a Doctors Office that has 10 doctors :lol ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/16 "2016-02-08T01:15:38Z")
> [@jerry\_smissingfinger](#): > > Yup > > I’ve seen them as well, very odd. Jackmanni was trying to say politely that very small spines will not migrate through the body and come out the fingertips. That does not happen. Whatever she is pulling out of her fingertips could be any kind of body tissue and in fact people suffering from Morgellons type delusions will often do just that and claim it is foreign bodies. This behavior made the disorder very difficult to pin down as other people including doctors saw “stuff” the sufferers claimed they were exuding. It is not possible that super teeny spines have gone on a long journey through her body and are now coming out just her fingertips. You’re dealing with a psychosis. Confronting them is useless. All dermatologists can do is play along then when they realize what they are dealing with, move them along and hope they get mental care. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/17 "2016-02-08T01:25:26Z")
> [@jerry\_smissingfinger](#): > > Oh and I forgot to mention… she works at a Doctors Office that has 10 doctors :lol Unless the doctors have a vested interest in digging into her claims they are likely to shrug their shoulders and move on. Morgellons sufferers will often “produce” stuff they clamed they pulled out that are just fibers in the environment sitting on their skin. The con is impossible to detect unless you can actually watch the whole chain of removal from start to finish and then also have the expertise to know what is body tissue and what is a truly foreign body. Detecting it is incredibly difficult. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/18 "2016-02-08T02:01:55Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Jackmanni was trying to say politely that very small spines will not migrate through the body and come out the fingertips. That does not happen. Whatever she is pulling out of her fingertips could be any kind of body tissue and in fact people suffering from Morgellons type delusions will often do just that and claim it is foreign bodies. This behavior made the disorder very difficult to pin down as other people including doctors saw “stuff” the sufferers claimed they were exuding. It is not possible that super teeny spines have gone on a long journey through her body and are now coming out just her fingertips. You’re dealing with a psychosis. Confronting them is useless. All dermatologists can do is play along then when they realize what they are dealing with, move them along and hope they get mental care. No hard cites, but this isn’t the first time I have heard of object migrating through the body. Sea Urchin spines were one thing I remember reading about. Then there’s this comment from the Snopes forum: > [@](#): > > It’s true, though, that sewing needles, acupuncture needles, and splinters from artillery shells introduced at one point in the body do sometimes migrate quite a distance to other parts of the body, though not through the bloodstream, of course. > > Sharp objects, when not removed early on, have been known to penetrate into and wander through soft tissues, where they’re often only detected once the patient presents with cardiac problems (such as would be caused by penetration of a needle into the pericardium from the bronchus) or neurological deficits (such as in the case of an implanted acupuncture needle that had migrated into the medullary region of the brainstem) or hepatic difficulties (such as in the case of a swallowed needle that found its way to the liver) and the like. > > And then there’s this item, which presumably describes the migration of a wood splinter from the area overlying the cheekbone down to somewhere within the pharynx. ETA: Note that for an object to migrate, it must have barbs or a shape that gives it a preferential direction of motion, when the surrounding tissue moves. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/glochids-from-prickly-pear-cacti/745380/19 "2016-02-08T07:15:22Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > ETA: Note that for an object to migrate, it must have barbs or a shape that gives it a preferential direction of motion, when the surrounding tissue moves. This is certainly true of Opuntia spines - it’s the thing that makes them so troublesome - you only need brush against the plant and the spines/hairs harpoon themselves into your skin - attempts to pull them out often just end up working them further in. I’d say that for an object to migrate within the body though, it doesn’t necessarily need barbs - it just needs to be asymmetric - a shard of glass that is very thin and pointed at one end, but blunt at the other is going to tend to push through flesh at the pointy end, but _be pushed_ at the blunt end.