Translations:AY Honors/Backpacking/Answer Key/76/en

Blister Prevention

When it comes to blisters on the feet, it is always best to avoid them. Blisters are caused when your foot rubs against something repeatedly. Blisters can be avoided by wearing footwear that fits you correctly. Also, be sure to break your footwear in before embarking on a long hike. It also helps to wear two pairs of socks. When you do this, the inner sock moves with your foot and the outer sock moves with your boot. All the rubbing takes place between the two socks rather than between your foot and the sock. This will eventually wear a hole in your sock, but replacing socks is a lot less painful than hiking with a blister.

Blister Treatment

Try not to break the blister open. It is far better if the skin continues to cover the injury, as this will keep out germs and prevent infection. If you must open the blister in order to be able to walk, do it as follows.

• Clean the affected area
• Sterilize a needle
• Pierce the blister in several places around its perimeter to drain the fluid, but try to leave as much of the skin intact as possible.
• Wipe the injury down with rubbing alcohol.

Whether you open the blister or not, you should then treat it as follows:

• Cut a hole a little larger than the blister in a piece of moleskin from your first aid kit, and place the hole over the blister. The thickness of the surrounding moleskin protects the blister from further friction. If you do not have a moleskin, you can do the same thing with an adhesive bandage.
• Cover a large blister with gauze and adhesive tape.
• Be sure to allow the blister to breathe.