First Aid Bites & Stings How to Remove a Bee Stinger in the Skin If you don't see a stinger, is it under the skin? By Rod Brouhard, EMT-P facebook twitter linkedin Rod Brouhard is an emergency medical technician paramedic (EMT-P), journalist, educator, and advocate for emergency medical service providers and patients. Learn about our editorial process Rod Brouhard, EMT-P Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Michael Menna, DO on November 16, 2019 Michael Menna, DO, is board-certified in emergency medicine. He is an attending emergency medicine physician at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York and also works at an urgent care center and a telemedicine company that provides care to patients across the country. Learn about our Medical Review Board Michael Menna, DO on November 16, 2019 Print When you're stung by a bee and don't see the stinger, does it mean it's hiding under your skin? The answer is no. There's no stinger under the skin. If the bee left a stinger behind, you would see it. Paul Starosta / Getty Images Only a few species of bees have barbed stingers that stick to the skin. A few yellow jackets also have small barbs on their stingers, but they're not big enough to catch in the skin. Different species of bees and wasps are going to have differently sized stingers. The bees with a sharply barbed stinger, those that leave a venom sac and stinger behind, are only female worker honeybees. These are the bees that we think of when we consider how to take the stinger out. Speed Matters Most There's some controversy surrounding the best method for removing a bee stinger. Some say it needs to be scraped out to avoid squeezing more venom into the skin. Others say just grab and pull. You probably don't care about the controversy so much and just want to know the best way to remove it. The best way to remove a bee stinger is to pull it out, or brush it off, or scrape it off. Basically, remove it in whatever way you can. It doesn't matter how you remove a bee stinger. What matters is how quickly you remove it. Study on Stinger Removal There's no evidence that one way of removing a bee stinger is better than another. There is only one published study that looks at the issue, and it is an older one. The study compared the difference in reactions between bee stingers that were removed by pulling and bee stingers that were scraped off. It's not a great study because it was a very small number of stings being compared, but it concluded that there isn't a significant difference. In that study, the only thing that mattered was time. Pinching the stinger and pulling it out didn't cause more of a reaction than scraping it off with a credit card. What did cause a bigger reaction was leaving the stinger in the skin longer. The moral of the story is to do what animals do: Get the stinger out. When animals get stung, they don't reach into their wallets for their library card to scrape out the stinger. They bite it off or rub up against a tree or scratch with their paws. Animals instinctively know that if it hurts it needs to go, the sooner the better. Dangerous Reactions to Bee Stings Unfortunately for most people who are allergic to bee stings, they only find out by getting stung. If you're stung by a bee and the bump (called a weal) swells up large and turns red, watch for redness and swelling spreading out away from the weal. Spreading, swelling, or fever (meaning it feels hot) can be signs of infection or allergy. Signs of Anaphylaxis Be aware of any itching or burning on the skin that's not touching the weal, or of trouble breathing, difficulty swallowing, scratchy throat, dizziness, or weakness after the sting.Any of these signs and symptoms could indicate anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction. Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening medical emergency that requires immediate medical treatment. If you know you are allergic to bee stings, you should be carrying epinephrine, a form of adrenaline used to treat severe anaphylaxis. If you're not the one stung and happen to be carrying an epinephrine auto-injector, help the patient use the auto-injector as soon as they begin to recognize the symptoms of anaphylaxis. How to Use an EpiPen for a Severe Allergic Reaction Treatment People who are allergic to bee stings will most likely be allergic to all bee species. Treat all bee stings the same: You don't have to worry about removing a stinger if you don't see one. The way that stingers and venom sacs are shaped leads to the fact that it is really hard to get a stinger under the skin. In the unlikely case that part or all of a stinger has become lodged underneath the skin, it will probably work its way out over a few days much like a splinter. If the swelling doesn't go down after a couple of days, you may need to see a doctor to rule out or confirm a possible infection. How to Treat Bee Sting Allergy A Word From Verywell In most cases, although it may cause panic, a bee sting that leaves a stinger in your skin is no big issue. Simply get rid of it—how you do it doesn't matter, just that you do it quickly. If you are allergic to bee stings, make sure to see a doctor right away if you think there is a stinger still in the skin. It's the exception to the rule. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Visscher PK, Vetter RS, Camazine S. Removing bee stings. Lancet. 1996;348(9023):301-2. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(96)01367-0 Venkataramanappa SK, Gowda A, Raju S, Harihar V. An unusual case of bilateral empyema associated with bee sting. Case Rep Med. 2014;2014:985720. doi:10.1155/2014/985720 Additional Reading Abtahi, S., Razmjoo, Abtahi, Roomizadeh, & Mohammadi. (2011). Management of corneal bee sting. Clinical Ophthalmology, 1697. doi:10.2147/opth.s26919