What can you do against blisters on your feet and hands?

The most important points in brief

• Heavy manual work, sport or long hikes with possibly new shoes, these are the conditions in which we develop calluses.
• Blisters on feet and hands are an unpleasant thing that you absolutely want to avoid - or get rid of quickly once they are there.
• Blisters are always a sure sign that too much friction has taken place on the skin.
• If you do have blisters on your hands and feet, there are a few tried and tested home remedies that you can use to alleviate the symptoms.

You are probably familiar with the uncomfortable feeling when the unmistakable feeling that you will definitely get a blister sets in your hands or feet during a workout, while working in the garden or on a beautiful mountain hike. Preventing with a blister plaster is a good idea - especially with new shoes - but our skin doesn't always stick to it.

Bubbles cannot always be avoided

The truth is that despite all precautions, blisters on feet and hands cannot always be prevented 100 percent. The shoes can be exactly the right size (a thumb's width between the tip of the shoe and the longest toe), well-fitting socks that release the moisture from the inside to the outside of the sock and perfectly fitting gloves for swinging the tennis racket or the rake move: All of this is by no means a guarantee that bubbles will not form.

If this is the case, even if the bladder is still in its early stages, then you should not use deodorant for the feet, for example, as this inhibits the formation of sweat there. This hampers the healing process enormously and in the worst case leads to more serious skin diseases. Much, much better: get an antiseptic and apply it to the appropriate area. If the bubbles are not yet open, rubbing in with hydrogen peroxide is recommended.

Open blisters on feet and hands: what to do?

When the bladder has opened it is usually quite painful. Ideally, you will be able to use tweezers to remove the detached piece of skin before disinfecting the open area. In this way, no skin remaining on the wound can unintentionally tear off. Either way, however, you should protect the vacancy well. The best way to do this is to use some gauze to prevent infection or even irritation of the skin. This threatens especially the next time you put on your shoes without protecting the sore area.

But that's only one aspect. But there are also home remedies that support the healing process in the best possible way. First of all, aloe vera should be mentioned here. Break open a leaf of the plant and apply the emerging gel to the blister. Chamomile also helps: Boil half a liter of water with three bags of chamomile tea, soak gauze with it and place the gauze on the wound for a while.

Piercing is only advisable with a disinfected needle and a large bladder that is about to tear. You must then disinfect the wound. If the bladder becomes infected, with or without piercing, you should consult a doctor. Signs of infection are redness, pain, purulent bladder edges, yellowish crusts or fever.