Stop Blisters Before They Start

Blisters end more trips than any injury other than a rolled ankle, and they are close to fully preventable. The mechanism is shear between skin layers, made much worse by moisture. Once you know where your feet rub, you tape those spots before you walk, not after they hurt.

How to do it

1. Find your hot spots before the trip

   Do a loaded walk at home. Everyone has a personal map: heel cup, outside of the little toe, the ball under the big toe. That map barely changes over years.

2. Tape prophylactically

   Leukotape on clean dry skin over the known spots before you start walking. It stays on for days including through water. Apply smooth with no wrinkles, because a wrinkle is a new friction point.

3. Fix the fit, not the symptom

   Heel lift means your lacing is wrong or the shoe is too big. Use a heel lock lacing through the upper eyelets. Toe bang on descents means you need to lock the midfoot down harder, or your shoes are too small for downhill days.

4. Manage moisture actively

   Change socks at lunch and hang the wet pair on the pack to dry. Ten minutes with your shoes and socks off at a break does more than any product.

5. Stop the instant you feel a hot spot

   Not at the next break. A hot spot is a two minute tape job. A blister is three days of misery. This is the single highest return habit in hiking.

6. If one forms, protect rather than pop

   Keep a small blister intact. If it is large and will burst anyway, drain at the edge with a sterile point, leave the roof on as a dressing, and cover with a donut of moleskin so the rim takes the pressure.

Where people go wrong

• Cotton socks. They hold water against the skin and multiply friction.
• Waiting for a break to deal with a hot spot. By then it is a blister.
• Taping over damp skin. It peels off within an hour. Dry the foot first.
• Removing the roof of a drained blister. That layer is the best dressing available and it protects against infection.