A Simple Blister Tip

The other evening I was asked by my wife to look at her heel. She had worn sandals while we were working in the yard and had pain at the outside of her left heel.
     After cleaning the eel with an alcohol wipe, I was able to see a small blister, maybe one half inch in length and one-fourth inch in height. It was painful to the touch and was bothering her in ordinary shoes. In short, she wanted it fixed.
     I told her that heel blisters were some of the hardest to fix because of the toughened skin. With the help of a light, I was able to see the fluid and on the third stick, with one of my #11 scalpels made a slit in the forward top part of the blister. A small amount of fluid was expelled. I put a dab of zinc oxide over the skin and slit in the blister, and a Band-Aid over the top.
     Here’s the tip. Two days later she asked me to check the heel again. The blister had healed nicely – but there were several small rough pieces of skin sticking up from the blister. These could easily irritate the area and catch on socks. I had her use a callus file to file down the rough skin. This simple step can help smooth the skin as a blister heals. If the skin edges are large, use a scissors to cut close to the skin and then use the file. The aim is to remove the rough edges.