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the shizzle => diet, training and injuries => Topic started by: Drew on November 28, 2008, 10:41:54 am

Title: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Drew on November 28, 2008, 10:41:54 am
A hard session yesterday at the wall has left me battered and bruised. However the worst 'injury' is a blood blister on my little finger. The skin over the top isn't dead.

My question is whether or not to pop and drain it. I am going climbing today, but only easy pottering.
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: dave on November 28, 2008, 10:46:44 am
in my experience bloodblisters are generally more painful if you leave em full rather then bursting em. so i'd generally drain it with a pin (sterilise it in a flame first if you want).
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Iesu on November 28, 2008, 10:59:34 am
i like to fondle them for a few days, watch them get bigger and bigger and then pop it.
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: GCW on November 28, 2008, 11:43:44 am
How big is it.
If you're going to pop it you're best deroofing it.
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: SA Chris on November 28, 2008, 11:45:36 am
Dont pop it, get a needle and thread and draw a piece of cotton through it. Cotton wicks out blood (or goop if it's a normal blister) and it then dries out. Once it is dry, remove cotton.
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: GCW on November 28, 2008, 11:47:05 am
But it's at risk of infection, Chris.

Personally, if it isn't agony or over a joint I'd leave it alone.  But what do I know?  :shrug:
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: SA Chris on November 28, 2008, 11:53:20 am
Yes, there is a risk of infection, but I think risk is relatively small. Statistically, I have seen it done about 50 times (medics used to do it "unoffficially" in army) and never heard of a case of the blisted getting infected (putting a plaster over it is a good idea, or else the thread can get pulled out). Needle shoudl be cleaned with disinfectant of some sort, I guess disinfecting a piece of cotton is impossible. Worked for me, many times.
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: magpie on November 28, 2008, 12:22:18 pm
I don't know about the string thing, never heard that before, but I would definitely pop it with a needle but leave the skin over the top mainly intact, so in effect you have an empty blister but the sore, open area is covered with skin.  Taking the whole top off will make it much more sore.
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: slackline on November 28, 2008, 12:25:59 pm
I guess disinfecting a piece of cotton is impossible.

Nope, sticking it in a pressure cooker for a good hour or so should do the trick, kind of like a cheap mans autoclave.  If you wanted to get really high-tech you could go for UV irradiation, but thats probably beyond most people's budget.

Of course you would have to wear sterile gloves when handling afterwards to avoid contamination.
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Jaspersharpe on November 28, 2008, 12:40:02 pm
Fuck me this is getting technical for a blood blister!  :P

I agree with magpie.
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: SA Chris on November 28, 2008, 01:05:23 pm
I don't know about the string thing, never heard that before, but I would definitely pop it with a needle but leave the skin over the top mainly intact, so in effect you have an empty blister but the sore, open area is covered with skin. 

Trouble is that if you pop it and then irritate it again it can reform. Doens't happen if you dry it out with a wick (cotton thread, not string!).
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: magpie on November 28, 2008, 02:24:11 pm
My knowledge is based mainly on normal blisters, rather than blood ones, and generally on feet so maybe it's different for hands.  All I know is I'm not keen on doing crosstich on my body and leaving it there to dry out  ;)
Title: Re: Blod blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: SA Chris on November 28, 2008, 04:07:39 pm
Your choice, but it is very effective.
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Drew on November 28, 2008, 06:33:31 pm
Erm... didn't realise it would get so technical!

I popped it with a slightly disinfected blade (bit of flame action), drained the blood and all's well. Chalked up and climbed with no problems!
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Stoat on November 30, 2008, 10:37:01 pm
This has puzzled me before. Is it better to leave or rip the skin off and let it dry out and heal?
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Drew on November 30, 2008, 10:46:06 pm
Well, I found that popping it in a small point, then leaving it for a few days till the top layer of skin dies, then cut it off like a flapper, by which point the skin underneath has repaired itself to an acceptable level.
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Obi-Wan is lost... on November 30, 2008, 11:03:08 pm
I'd pop it, get the blood out. If it's quite deep I've had ones that dry out and form a blood 'tattoo'  :thumbsdown: That is very painful to dig out!
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: magpie on December 01, 2008, 10:14:49 am
Well, I found that popping it in a small point, then leaving it for a few days till the top layer of skin dies, then cut it off like a flapper, by which point the skin underneath has repaired itself to an acceptable level.
  :agree:

I find if you take all the skin off you're left with an open wound which is sorer and can get infected.
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Fiend on December 01, 2008, 10:31:08 am
All this talk of infection and sterilisation, wot a bunch of girls.

Bite a hole in it, drink the blood, let the skin heal a bit and bite the rest off.
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: dave on December 01, 2008, 10:57:31 am
real men will cut the effected finger off by propping an AIDs-blood-splattered piece of broken glass on the knuckle and then hammering it with a brick. then dip the bloodied stump in a bottle of 20/20 stolen from an dead tramp's netto bag, then set fire to it. works every time.
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: Houdini on December 01, 2008, 11:04:42 am
Real men wait for it to go gangrenous before plunging their arm upto the elbow into a tank of pirahna's (who'll nip it back to the bone) then into boiling crude to cauterize.
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: joswald on December 01, 2008, 11:50:55 pm
I had one recently and I left it and it popped while I was having a fingerboard workout....
Mine too was on my little finger.
Didn't make climbing much different atall.
James
Title: Re: Blood blister, pop it, or leave it?
Post by: peterbull on December 02, 2008, 02:31:06 am
Ideally you should leave the blister alone as the skin provides a barrier against infection. It will burst naturally by which time the skin underneath will have had a chance to heal.
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