Blisters often form on heels or soles rubbed by ill-fitting shoes or on hands chafed from gripping a gardening tool, golf club, or similar object. They also develop from burns. The treatment is the same whatever the cause of the blister: protect it from friction, and don’t puncture it; the fluid in it will be reabsorbed naturally.
Clean the skin and apply a dry sterile gauze pad. If the blister breaks, wash it with antiseptic soap and continue to keep it covered with a dry sterile pad. Don’t peel away the dead covering skin. If a broken blister shows any sign of infection-spreading redness or pussee a doctor.
If you can’t avoid the friction that caused the blister, protect it as follows: Make a doughnut of thick adhesive cushioning with a “hole” the size of the blister. Paint the area around the blister with tincture of benzoin to make the skin sticky. Position the doughnut around the blister and tape it securely with strips of athletic tape.
Leave it on until the blister heals.