PODIATRIST PROVIDES TIPS ON TREATING BLISTERS FROM HIKING

But, if you're out on a long [hiking] trip [and develop blisters], carefully follow these steps from Sheldon Laps, DPM, podiatrist and foot surgeon in Washington, DC, and keep your tools—and wound clean to avoid infection. 1. Wash your hands. 2. Sterilize your needle, but not by using a flame. Don’t put the needle in a flame; you’ll get carbon particles in your skin. The carbon can further irritate the wound. Instead wipe it down with alcohol. 3. Puncture the blister and gently push the fluid out with your fingers near the hole.

 

Dr. Sheldon Laps

 

4. Cover the blister with a tight, clean bandage to keep bacteria from getting in. 5. Replace your bandage when it is soiled, soaked, falling off, or generally not doing its job. “It’s a good idea to keep a bandage on until the skin tightens up again,” Laps says. 6. If dirt or other trail debris do make their way into the wound, make sure you clean it thoroughly and cover it again to avoid infection, which would be a much larger problem.

 

Source: James Lynch, Popular Mechanics [10/4/19]

Courtesy of Barry Block, editor of PM News.