Walking all day in bad shoes can leave you with a painful condition that can last for days on end. I’m talking about blisters. Most people have experienced these painful wounds. They often appear after long days of walking, but can also be the result of a burn on the skin or an extended friction on any area of the body — especially the palms and fingertips.
Sometimes blisters can be extremely painful and other times they are simply an annoying inconvenience. Either way, this disturbed area of skin provides a breeding ground for bacteria, so it’s best to get it cleaned up and healed as quickly as possible.
If you have a blister, inspect it carefully. If there is still a layer of skin overtop the wound and it hasn’t broken yet, then you don’t want to disturb it. That skin is helping to keep bacteria out of the open wound beneath.
It may be tempting to break the skin and slush out the liquid inside, but resist doing this if you can. If the pain is too intense and you are having trouble walking, you may drain the fluid, but do so carefully.
Wash your hands and the blister area with soap and water, and then rub the blister with either iodine or rubbing alcohol to disinfect it. Take a sharp sewing needle and rub it with a cotton pad dampened with alcohol. Puncture the skin of the blister in a few places on the lower edge, where it will drain out naturally, thanks to gravity. Don’t cut or remove the skin. Catch draining fluid with a cotton ball or pad.
Once the fluid is drained, or if you have a blister where the skin is already broken, there are a few things that you can do to prevent an infection from setting in and to speed healing. Rub the broken blister with rubbing alcohol. When the skin dries, apply an antibiotic cream or ointment. Cover small blisters with an adhesive bandage — this speeds up wound healing.
If the blister is large, then use a cotton gauze pad instead. Remember to change the dressing daily or when it gets wet. In a few days, the overlying skin should be dead. Cut it away with nail scissors that have been sterilized with alcohol. Continue applying antibiotic cream and bandages to the blister until the wound is healed.
Remember that if you are diabetic, you may require special care for foot wounds and you should always consult a doctor before performing the above self-care method.
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