Man nearly dies from infected blister after day hike

I, OTOH, cut off the tip of my thumb by cutting vegetables in a NZ shelter while distracted by talking to another backpacker.  “That onion slice doesn’t look like the others. . . where’s that ketchup coming from?”

Crap, crapity, crap!  We’re at the start of two backpacking trips and popping off to an ER is really not in the cards.  So I let it bleed freely to flush stuff out.  Thankfully, I’d been washing and prep’ing veggies so my hands were pretty clean of bacteria.  I knew a doc would stitch it back on, but maybe I could bandage it in place?  I stuck the detached bit back on, pressed it firmly with my forefinger, elevated it for a LONG time (I’ve long used extended periods of elevation – 15+ minutes – with good success for cuts.  I figure you have to give it time to clot a far amount).  Then I tried to keep it clean and moist the next 10 days of backpacking and camping.  And moist.  That’s a big advantage of topical antibiotic creams – by keeping the edges of a wound from drying out, you can get better healing.

2 years later, it’s still there.  I did change my fingerprint slightly because I’d replaced it with a different rotation.  Maybe it’ll confuse the FBI?

So let things get dirty and bad things happen.

Keep things clean and you can have a good outcome.

Acknowledging that the chances are very small  of acquiring or self-infecting oneself with flesh eating bacteria, maybe it might be prudent to carry a few packets of triple antibiotic ointment , in addition to some gauze pads and tape. Proper flushing of the cut or wound should precede any application.

Rob

<soapbox>
That is ridiculous! A triple antibiotic for minor cuts, scrapes and burns. How to encourage seriously antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
</soapbox>

Cheers

Yeah, I agree with Roger on this. Minor cuts and scrapes need next to nothing. Clean till a scab forms. Your body should handle anything minor.

A foot blister can be a pain in the butt. I usually open these up and clean it out with alcohol (yup, it stings,) dry it, then close it up with a few drops of superglue, pressing the loose patch of skin on while moving my fingers over it. Then I put my socks on and dose the immediate area with alcohol again, wetting my socks. Sometimes I will add a layer of duct tape if it is fairly large. Never had a problem. I got one this past April, hiking in very wet weather for five days straight. It healed (no pain is healed to me) in three more days this way. I walked out six days later with a heavy callus in that area despite being wet. CLEAN seems to be the important part. Wet is OK, too.

I’ll go a shade further on this. I reckon, and so does Sue (my wife), that we heal faster when we are on a long walk. It makes sense of course: your body gets all rev’ed up, your circulation revs up, and so you heal faster.

Cheers