Palm thorn splinter

I mistook a Palm branch for a yard tool and grabbed it. One of the thorns pierced into my finger and it hurt. I was busy, so I just put gloves on and kept busy. I thought for sure I could get the splinter out whenever I wanted. Wrong. It's been in my finger for 2 months or so.

Every once in a while, I try to get it out. So far, I've been able to remove pieces of it, but not all of it. I guess it must be breaking down.

I happened across a microscope, so I decided to look at some of the pieces I've been able to remove. Pretty gross, but also really interesting. Even on a microscopic level, the structure is barbed. It is now clear why it's so difficult to remove.

I didn't see any image results online that were this detailed, which is why I decided to post about it.

Yuck, but whoa...

You can see the skin has enveloped the intruding barb, and you can see the microscopic barbs, apparently an inherent structure of the plant.