Nearly every runner has had the experience of blisters - who really wants to befriend them, but what can you do when they show up? In my years of running I had to deal a lot with liquid filled bubbles on my feet, especially when I embarked into the ultra-running world.
If you run a 10 km race or a Marathon and you get these little or large beasts, you can endure them, rest afterwards and give them time to heal; but once you have embarked into ultra-running, you have to find a way to run on blisters. Some people are very fortunate and they hardly get any blisters, while others are smart and take care of their feet. I had to learn it the hard way; much can be done with prevention. (We discussed how to avoid blisters here.)
Dealing with blisters
The main way of dealing with blisters is draining it, disinfecting it, and dressing it.
Draining: I personally like to pop the blister with a needle and then squeeze it. Pulling the needle with a thread through your blister to drain it is also a very popular solution.
Disinfecting: The traditional way is to use iodine for disinfection, but I prefer tea tree oil. It is natural, is very strong, it dries the blister, plus has a tremendous effect on pus. A blister that is filled with yellow-white liquid is a serious problem, and tea tree oil reacts with pus and heals it. One disadvantage from the oil is its smell, that is very intense and not everybody likes it. Lavender can also be used with the additional benefit of faster healing of the skin and a very pleasant smell. Again there is DMSO cream, a very strong disinfectant that also helps the healing process.
During the 3100 Mile Race in 2017, I had quite a lot of blisters - fortunately I had a helper, Horst, who knows everything there is to know about treating them! Here he is using a combination of ribwort and paper tape.
Dressing:
1) Second Skin: a rather ambivalent solution as far as I am concerned. If it is just for a day it is fine, but if the race goes on for days, it slows down the healing process considerably. Since the broken blister is always kept wet with the second skin, it can hardly heal. If you do use it, it should be fixed with paper tape.
Ribwort
2) Instead of second skin I have also used paper tape, or ribwort and paper tape. Ribwort grows as a weed pretty much everywhere, even in urban areas. You pluck it fresh, wash it and put it with the smooth side on the skin, after a few hours you can change it. This herb is also anti-inflamatory.
3) Special blister sticking-plasters are getting more and more popular. You cut the skin from the blister and stick the plaster on top of it. You keep it on the blister until the skin is healed. Again from my personal experience, I would not recommend it for a multi-day race, since it can create heat through friction and even worsen the problem.
4) If the blister is really painful and not too big, you can cut a hole into a soft material and fix it to your foot with paper tape, placing the hole over the blister (see picture). This might stop the blister from rubbing against the shoe, as the pressure is now on the adjoining areas.
5) Sheep wool is very useful as an extra cushion on top of the paper tape, to take pressure and friction away from the blister. It is also usefull for hot spots or areas where there is pressure in your shoe.
