I hope this doesn’t count as asking for medical advice.
I was doing some yardwork today, and despite wearing gloves, I seem to have developed a quarter sized blister on the palm of my hand. Not the most comfortable place to get one at all. So what’s the best way to treat it? Leave it alone? Should I attempt to put a bandaid on it, even though it will inevitably fall off? Neosporin?
IINAD, but I have been hiking a lot. What I usually do with blisters is take a sterile needle and lance the sucker at the base. Press out as much of the fluid as you can, collapsing the blister down. Give it a touch of Neosporin and bandage, loosely. the bandage is mainly to keep the top of the blister from rubbing loose. If lucky, the top will adhere to the bottom until the new skin toughens, then it will slough off.
I learned the same procedure as silenus describes in Wilderness Medical class. (IANAD) One reason that you should not remove the upper layer of skin is that it provides protection for the raw skin under the blister.
A band-aid might fall off, but you could try a gauze pad with some medical tape wrapped around your hand. It may look overly dramatic, but it’ll stay on.
I get blisters on my hands constantly. (like this) If at all possible, I really try not to lance them but let them heal on their own. If they’ve already busted, I usually just wash my hands really well and then slap on some Neosporin and a band-aid. A lot of times, medical tape works better than band-aids.
A crew mate of mine who used get blisters in gymnastic swear by pouring shampoo on her hands. Hurts like hell but she maintains it forms a protective layer. I’m skeptical, I think it just burns out all the nerves…
I get blisters occasionally from running. I found what works best (for me) is to just leave them alone. If I’m going to be doing something that aggravates them, I’ll put a bandaid over the top first.
I thin it depends on if you’re likely to aggravate it. As **silenus **and Green Bean have pointed out, you can essentially replace the (fragile) skin bandange with a fabric and plastic bandage. This makes sense in a wilderness/hiking setting, where you’re likely to rip the protective skin off and, furthermore, to do it at a time that might be inconvienent for first aid. Better to collapse it, disinfect it and keep it covered and clean while you have the opportunity and clean water to do so.
On the other hand (heh) since this was a weekend warrior injury, you might be best off leaving it alone. When the blister pops on its own, you probably won’t be far from a sink with clean water and Neosporin, and you can treat it then. I suspect that the white blood cells in the pus (held in place by the skin bubble) can do a slightly better job of keeping infection at bay the longer they’re in place.
Once it pops though, Neosporin and a light bandage.
The US Army survival manual recommends threading a needle with cotton thread, running it through the blister and letting the thread absorb the pus, thus leaving only small holes in the covering skin while still draining.
For blisters on the feet when hiking I was always told peeing on them would harden them up :eek: I’ve never done that but found soaking them in sea water (it helps to have a handy rock pool) did the job. Something to do with the different mineral compositions of the liquids and osmosis I think. Maybe you could imerse your hand in a bowl or salty water ?
(If I get a blister from a new pair of shoes then yes I just lance it but the area remains tender - it’s been a while now but IIRC the method above is move efficient for hardening and so reducing tenderness.)
