Blisters Gone Wrong

Caution to those that may have a sensitive stomach: the pictures below may not be so appealing to the eyes. However, for those in the athletic training field or love sports injuries, these are by far the most unbelievable pictures of your ordinary blister gone a just bit wrong. During preseason at Bridgewater State University, I had the opportunity to work with the BSU Football team in the athletic training room and out on the field. An incoming freshman came in several times with blisters as any other football player would from breaking into their brand new cleats. However, when this athlete came in for an everyday blister treatment, we were all in for a surprise. 

Here you can see that this is no ordinary blister. The athlete walk into the athletic training room to tell us he felt that something was not right. While the football athlete was breaking into his new cleats, he had managed to cause so much friction under the callus that had formed on the ball of his foot (also known as the metatarsalphalangeal joint). Pressure started to spread to the superior lateral aspect of the foot causing the blister. He had managed to develop a blister over a blood blister formed by his callus. There was so much pressure from the blister that the edges surrounding it became inflamed. The athlete told us he always had a blister under his callus and it was nothing new until this moment. The ATC's sent the athlete to the urgent care clinic immediately after evaluating his foot. When he returned, the following picture showed a great difference. 

The nurses at the urgent care clinic had lacerated the blister and had given the athlete antibiotics to prevent infection. The athlete returned to the athletic training room daily to drain out and clean out the wound. However, the ATC's noticed that the lateral side of his foot began to swell. The ATC's believed that clinic may have given him the incorrect antibiotic. The athlete was sent back to the clinic to get his blister cultured to match him with the correct antibiotic. After several days on the new antibiotic, the swelling had significantly decreased and the blister reduced twice the size of what the blister had initially looked like. The athlete was advised to take foot baths with epsom salts to help to clean out his blister. In the following week the athlete was finally able to return to play after a stressful week preventing him from playing on the field. To prevent any infection from forming, we used gauze/heel and lace padding and Powerflex to cover the wound. 

This was the end result of a long three weeks. You can see here that the skin from the blister had dried off and had been removed. Today, the athlete still covers the affected area before practice/games and is back on the field!