a good foot powder is worth its owen weight in gold something with zinc that will dry the living shit outta your foot.

Good topic and "only" personal solutions.
Over the years I cme to the following recipe:
1 condition your feet gradually,as well as your boots - we all know that.
What some might not know is toughen up your feet by rubbing them with alcohol,isoproterenol - rubbing alcohol works fine and is cheaper than whiskey.
The idea being to make leather out of city dwellers baby skin.
Wear 2 layers of dry socks, 1st layer silk or other thin materail that wicks sweat off the foot.If you have to walk thru a creek, change into dry socks if you can.
I would not recommend loose socks or loose boots, they cause friction from excessive movement.
Once you have a small blister:I open them up by pinching them with my nails,but anything works
then I "protect them" with a layer of thin but tough "plasic", whatever I carry: scotch tape, medical tape for securing "stuff", I guess electrical tape would work.I glue it tightly over the hurting skin to give it another layer against which the friction works.
I applied these sometimes before blisters came,when I felt they would come.At night, take it off, rub and disinfect with alcohol and re apply a new tape.
Best that I came up with.

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
Tincture of Merthiolate ! or otherwise Mercurochrome...... cant get the stuff in the USA cause of fear for Mercury poisoning.

In the RSA you can get it. We ran our whole military campaign in Angola on the stuff.

The very best treatment for grass burns from playing Rugby ! It was and is still an essential item in any first aid kit !

Closed Blisters, aspirate fluid with a needle and inject cavity with this stuff, burns like hell but dries the wound fast !

Open blisters, just paint or dab the stuff on will smart an sting till the tears come out of your eyes but it works !

Not for the weak at heart though, putting this stuff on an open skin wound gives new meaning to the word burn !

We used gengen violet(not sure of spelling) a orange coulered flued to inject into the blister after extracting the fluid. Can still feel the pain in my crotch, burned like hell but the next day I could do a 2,4km run with full battle kit in under 10 min. I always try and get the blister dry as soon as posable, normally it will only hurt bad for one day. Drive around for that day checking bait or tracks and you will be fine to do a walk and stalk the day after.

Wimpie
Keep your feet in a good condition, you might need them to outrun your PH

As usual, our resident genius, Walter, has come up with the perfect answer.

DON'T WALK!

Ahhhh yes, the old Jensen Violet trick, its purple in the USA and any vet can supply you with all you want...In the hot desert SW where jockey itch is emcumbent on all, that is the best cure and about the funniest one I have ever seen, or unfortunatly experienced, it sho do burn, but its the quickest cure I know of..and I bet it would work on blister...It is also a good stock dye as its made from the root of the walnut tree....If you do use it "Happy landings"

I think the socks you go with have a major impact on the sort of fit and potential blister problems that you're going to experience. I am always very careful (most of the time!) about sock and boot selection, and my blister probelms have been few.

Last year I did have some major blisters develop one day because for some dumb reason I put on a very light pair of socks that were not the same ones I normally wear, and the resulting loose fit, coupled with a day-long hike chasing eland, case some very painful blisters.

My solution was to cut a few sections of those sticky Dr. Scholl's foot pads and allpy them over the blisters. This is a solution that i've turened to before, and it workks. I always take these pads along on any hunting trip.....

AD

I agree with ErikD to drain blisters. Anytime the skin is pierced you offer free access to bacterias.
The compeed cares are good.
The best thing I saw (but where ? I cannot find it on the net) is sort of a rubber washer one uses to protect calluses. This sterile rubber washer has to be stuck around the desinfected blister and covered with a sterile plaster. This way the blister doesn’t ache any longer and one can go on walking undisturbed.
Who can find this rubber washer + plaster kit on the net? Help.

Ticture of benzine injected into the drained fluid sack. Hurts like hell but does some good.

Prevention being better than cure, strap up any hot spots with zinc oxide tape - available at any chemist. Much better than duct tape.