Overview
When a person has a blister, it looks as though a bubble has appeared on the skin. However, this “bubble” is filled with fluid, and can be very painful. The reasons for these blisters developing can really be related to anything. For example, wearing a new pair of shoes, working with your hands without wearing gloves etc. Other reasons for a blister to form include:
- Burns to the skin
When a person has a blister, it looks as though a bubble has appeared on the skin. However, this “bubble” is filled with fluid, and can be very painful. - Having an injury from the cold
- Bites from spiders can cause blisters, such as a bite from a brown recluse spider that causes blisters, pain and itching, along with a breakdown of tissue
- Having the skin pinched, such as if you were to forcefully have your finger caught in a drawer
When a blister does form, usually you simply need a little home treatment to get over this.
There are times in which a person may be dealing with a cluster of blisters. Infections are common for causing a single or cluster of blisters. For example:
- Chickenpox can cause numerous blisters on the skin, which will scab over. This is a very contagious illness for two to three days.
- Shingles, which is caused by the same virus as chickenpox, can most often be seen in older adults. These blisters usually develop on one side of the body in a band.
- Hand, foot and mouth disease is common in children in which blisters appear on the hands, feet and in the mouth.
- Cold sores are clusters of small blisters that appear on the lip and the edge of the mouth. These types of blisters can also form in the genital area when the person has genital herpes.
- Impetigo is blisters that form on the skin as a sort of bacterial infection.
- Infected hair follicles can cause the follicles to turn into blisters at the base of the strands of hair.
- Scabies infections occur when mites burrow into the skin causing these blisters to form that are often itchy.
- Bedbugs can cause blisters anywhere on the body, and they are very itchy.
Self-help – Treating Blisters
Blisters seldom need medical assistance, except if they are serious, periodic, caused by scalds or due to a primary infection.
When handling a blister, fight the temptation to rupture the blister. You might cause an infection or delay the time it takes to fully heal. If you have to burst it, the only way to rupture a blister is to clean the region with soap or antiseptic and then puncture the bubble with a needle held over a flame to disinfect it.