How To Prevent Blisters

Please consult your doctor before trying anything below

Blisters are your body’s way of saying it is hard enough, Be it too much friction or too much ambition, a blister much like a muscle cramp or side stitch , is designed to slow you down and make you better prepared for physical activity.
In some cases, blisters result from the painful rigor of breaking in a new pair of badly fitted shoes or spending too much time with the garden rake.
But blisters can also be viewed as a badge of initiation, a sign of someone trying something new that is hopefully worth the added effort and pain. Blisters initiate the new walker, the new racquetball player, the new cyclist. Different sports create blisters on different parts of the body, though the foot remains the site of greatest abuse.
Though the following remedies concentrate on How To Prevent Blisters for feet, many of these recommendations can be applied to treating friction blisters n the hands or any other part of the anatomy where your body has said slow down.

Treating them.
Here is how experts recommend you deal with the discomfort of blisters you already have

Decide whether to prick or not to prick.
Once you have a blister, oy have to decide what is the best to do with it. That is, should you protect it and leave it alone, or should you prick it and drain the fluid.

It all depends on the size of the blister.
A purist will probably tell you not to prick it, because then you do not run any risk of infection, but for most people it is not that practical.
While purists do indeed exist, experts say you should prick large blisters that are painful, while leaving intact smaller blisters that cause no discomfort. When you have big blister that is in a weight-bearing area, you almost have to drain it. They can get so full, they get like balloon.
Also, blisters that are likely to break on their own should be drained by you. That way, you can control when and how the blister is opened, instead of leaving it to chance.

Make a moleskin doughnut.
One way to protect a tender blister without draining it is to cut a moleskin pad into a doughnut shape and place it over the blister “Leave the central area open where the blister is”, the surrounding moleskin will absorb most of the shock and friction of every day activity. As long as the skin is clean and dry, the moleskin will adhere by itself.

Be wise and sterilize,
For those who wish to drain a blister, the first thing to do is clean a blister and surrounding skin, and sterilize your instrument, whether it a pin or razor blade, it is better to use alcohol to clean both. Other doctors advise sterilizing your instrument by flame instead of alcohol , that is simply heat the pin or razor blade with a match until it glows red (let it cool before touching the skin however). Either method seems equally able to kill germs, and both come equally recommended.

Stick it
If a blister gives you pain, then just go ahead and pop it, use a sterilized needle and stick it in the side of the blister. Just make sure the hole’s big enough that you can squeeze out all the fluid.

Or slice it.
Use a sterile scalpel to drain blisters. It is always recommended using sterilized razor blade. Just make a straight incision, a little slice that is big enough to let the fluid come out

Keep the roof on
The biggest mistake most people make when treating their own blisters is that after they drain it they pull off the roof. The skin that goes over the top of the D.P.M. Always leave the roof on, think of it as nature’s Band-Aid. If you remove it, you are going to end up with a very red, raw, sore area. But if you leave it on, it will eventually harden up and fall off by itself. Significantly reducing your recovery time.

Try a triple whammy for germs
Recent research has shown that triple antibiotics can eliminate bacterial contamination from blisters after only two treatments, whereas old standbys such as iodine and camphor-phenol actually delay healing. Triple antibiotics are the choice for many people.

Keep dressing simple
After you have treated the blister, you will need to keep it covered and protected while it heals. Though guaze pads and special bandages may be the first thing you’d expect a podiatrist to reach for, most people for simpler approach First choice could be a flexible fabric adhesive strip. People will tell you to put a sterile dressing on it, but they forget that band-aids are sterile inside the wrapper, so you are actually putting on a piece of sterile gauze that has the adhesive already in place. It is a great dressing and very convenient.
Gauze pads, however, are recommended for blisters that are just too big for a band-aid to cover. Keep it in place with waterproof adhesive tape.

Use second skin for a second wind.
If you have treated and covered your blister and find you just cannot wait for it to completely heal before returning to an active lifestyle, then you will need to know about Spenco’s second skin dressing, a spongy material that absorbs pressure and reduces friction against blisters and surrounding skin.

Give it some air.
Most doctors suggest that you remove your blister dressing nightly and let it get some air. “Air and water are very good for healing”. So soaking it in water are and keeping it open to the air at night are helpful.