Blisters

[Mother Natures Son]

What does everyone use to prevent blisters? I have been using Tea Tree Oil (available on line or health stores). This prevents most blisters but is there anything else ls that prevents all blisters?

[stranger]

I don't think so to be honest, I blister on my right foot, like clockwork, cause it's smaller than my left foot, I just let it happen, then clean and patch the blisters, and I'm good to go.

Some things that work well are hikers wool, or lambs wool, put some in your sock in blister prone places.

Band Aid blister block on your heels before any hot spots, or duct tape for that matter.

On a long hike I would recommend letting yourself blister, cause for many of us they are unavoidable, and it just becomes easier to blister, clean and patch them, and two days later you're fine (well two days later I'm fine). Some people struggle with blisters, but for me atleast, they only hurt when they are forming, once they are cleaned, I find them quite harmless.

[rp1790]

Duct tape and sock liners for me, works often. I know the spots where I'll get blisters and "if" I tape them beforehand the tape will prevent me getting the blisters in the first place.

[Jerk]

Hydropel works for me.

[Tinker]

Low top, well ventilated shoes have worked for me. I haven't had a single blister since dropping high ankle, full leather boots. Wool blended socks (I use Smartwool) also help.
Preventing ALL blisters? Not in this lifetime, unfortunately. I have a feeling that if I can't get my footwear dry after several days (probably 5 or more), I MAY develop blisters. This hasn't happened in a long, long time (the Long Trail in 1999 was the last time I've had wet feet for that length of time - and that was when I was wearing all leather boots.

[Loneoak]

Don't want to hijack your thread, but whats the best way to handle a blister? Drain or not drain? If it bust, how do you treat it?

[Panzer1]

to prevent all/most blisters you will ned properly fitting footwear, good socks and your feet have to be accustomed to hiking. also don't hike too many miles in a day and take days off to give your feet time to recover.

Panzer

[cindellasaurus]

I found this when I did a search of how to treat foot blisters.

"The best way to do this is to clean a needle with alcohol, then pierce the blister in at least two places. Put pressure on the cap of the blister to squeeze out the fluid. Once drained it is important to not remove the cap as this acts as a protective barrier against the raw skin that is on the bottom of the blister. Instead put an antiseptic such as Neosporin or bacitracin ointment on the wound and then cover it with a dressing under compression so that the blister does not re-form. Do this for a few days. The cap will dry out and the raw skin will harden. At that point you may cut away the dead dry skin and the underlying skin should be fine."

That's from http://www.foot-pain-explained.com/blisters.html

Hope it helps!

[Adayak]

Duct tape and sock liners for me, works often. I know the spots where I'll get blisters and "if" I tape them beforehand the tape will prevent me getting the blisters in the first place.

I second duct tape.

[Tatum]

I drain the blister, use liquid skin on the affected area, put a square of mole skin on top of the blister, and then put a square of duck/gorilla tape on top of the mole skin to prevent slippage!

[msujay]

I highly recommend Leukotape instead of duct tape. It sticks much better and holds up much better than duct tape. It can be bought online.

[fredmugs]

I used to blister horribly and have prevented them by ditching everything everyone has told me about footwear.

No more boots for me. I now wear wide width trail runners or plain cross trainers. Wide width footwear seems to be the biggest factor for me.

No more sock liners, wool socks, etc. Regular cheap gray socks that I get from Wal Mart and I put on dry socks halfway thru the day.

[BobTheBuilder]

Body Glide on the bottoms of my feet. Used to blister badly every section hike, tried the Body Glide on the last hike, and zero blisters in fifty miles. I applied in the morning and then once or twice more during the day.

Worked for me, YMMV.