QUESTION:
I am plagued with narrow feet and in spite of great boots (Asolo), socks & liners, and moleskin, I routinely battle heel blisters. I appreciate your advice on blister prevention, but wonder if you have any advice on blister treatment?
I’m about to leave for Nepal and trek around Manaslu and will keep on trekking even with heel blisters but know how painful it is. Any advice will be welcomed.
-Jenna
ANSWER:
It sounds like you’ve done everything right, but still have heel blisters 🙁 I’m sorry you have them.
I presume you’ve seen this short video I did about lacing hiking boots to prevent blisters. That should help keep your heel from slipping, which is generally the cause of blisters.
Now that you have them, the best blister treatment is to let them fully heal. Since that answer clearly doesn’t work for you in light of your upcoming trip, here are some other blister treatment tips:
- Wear sandals as much as possible to let the blisters air out and heal
- Make sure to keep the blisters clean. Regular soap and water is the best way to clean blisters.
- Use a donut shaped piece of moleskin around your heel blister each time you hike.
- Avoid hot showers, because the hot water slows the blister healing process.
Hope those blister treatment tips help, and have a wonderful time on your trek in Nepal around Manaslu!! I’m jealous!
Happy trails!
Hiking Lady
Do you have a question for the Hiking Lady?
Hi Jeanette, Another idea would be to use moleskin. I can help provide some cushion for the blister and moleskin tends to stick well, despite sweat. Hope that helps!
I have a good sized bunion on my left foot below my big toe. Last time I went hiking it got very painfully – edge of tongue of hiking boot rubbing on top of it. This did not happen the first year I owned my Merrick boots, just the second year. What would you recommend for cushioning to help keep it from hurting? I use Dr Scholl’s Duragel bunion cushions when I wear heels or fashion boots. I may use those. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
What are your thoughts on hiking alone? I belong to groups but with my work hours many times I hike alone. I get a lot of slack for it. Do you take any special precautions when hiking alone? I also tell someone where I am going and carry gear.
Duct tape works well. The only problem is you have to either let it come off naturally or soak it off.
Luckily, I haven’t had a blister in years.
Great tip, thanks for sharing Steve! I’ve got some of the Dr. Scholl’s blister treatment band aids in my First Aid kit, but haven’t had to use them 🙂
Those special blister bandages from Band-Aid are amazingly effective for treating blisters. They take away all the pain completely for me and seem to help the blister heal faster too.. And, no I don’t work for Band-Aid, hehe.. I’m just a happy user of their product.
I used to get blisters fairly often, but what helped a lot for me was getting the right shoe size and replacing the standard soles with SuperFeet ones (I prefer the green one).
I had bad heel blisters last year before I watched your video about lacing your boots properly. They took forever to go away. I used Moleskin on them every time I wore my boots. That helped a bit.