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@peregrina2000 I have heard good things about the Altras but the Speedgoats have part vibram soles so hopefully last longer (and Speedgoats sounds cooler)
The magic of Omnifix is to use it to prevent blisters! I put it on my blister prone areas every day that I'm on the Camino. I don't even wait until I develop a hot spot. I think of it as an insurance policy against blisters.Omnifix tape (MAGIC TAPE!!!),
No one should be leaving a thread, aka super highway for bacteria in a blister.The Spanish method of using a needle and leaving the thread in did not work for me
I am leaving in about two weeks, so it is time to get organized. I am starting with my foot bag. I typically bring gauze, scissors, Omnifix tape (MAGIC TAPE!!!), tweezers, small scissors, antibacterial cream and betadyne. No more compeed! No more second skin! No more toe protectors to prevent corns, thanks to my Altras! Maybe I will leave in a little moleskin and molefoam, what do you think?
But my real question is that I don’t really understand the difference between when and how to use betadyne and/or antibacterial cream. When I get a blister, I immediately cut it open (so it is always very small), wash it the best I can depending on where I am, cut away a small patch of skin so it won’t re-form and apply either anti-bacterial cream or betadyne, then cover it with omnifix and gauze. But what is the difference? When should I use which one?
Thanks, buen camino, Laurie
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Hi Laurie, to answer your question, Betadine is an iodine product, which is an anti-microbial. It can kill fungus and bacteria. An antibiotic cream kills bacteria. You’re doing everything correctly with your blisters. One advantage of the antibiotic cream is that it keeps your wound moist. Wounds need moisture for the cells to migrate from wound edge to wound edge. Dried tissue is dead tissue and that slows down healing. My training and experience is specifically with wounds of the lower leg. Who knew that there could be such a specialty!I am leaving in about two weeks, so it is time to get organized. I am starting with my foot bag. I typically bring gauze, scissors, Omnifix tape (MAGIC TAPE!!!), tweezers, small scissors, antibacterial cream and betadyne. No more compeed! No more second skin! No more toe protectors to prevent corns, thanks to my Altras! Maybe I will leave in a little moleskin and molefoam, what do you think?
But my real question is that I don’t really understand the difference between when and how to use betadyne and/or antibacterial cream. When I get a blister, I immediately cut it open (so it is always very small), wash it the best I can depending on where I am, cut away a small patch of skin so it won’t re-form and apply either anti-bacterial cream or betadyne, then cover it with omnifix and gauze. But what is the difference? When should I use which one?
Thanks, buen camino, Laurie
Hi Laurie
Hi Laurie, to answer your question, Betadine is an iodine product, which is an anti-microbial. It can kill fungus and bacteria. An antibiotic cream kills bacteria. You’re doing everything correctly with your blisters. One advantage of the antibiotic cream is that it keeps your wound moist. Wounds need moisture for the cells to migrate from wound edge to wound edge. Dried tissue is dead tissue and that slows down healing. My training and experience is specifically with wounds of the lower leg. Who knew that there could be such a specialty!
According to AdvancedTissue.com..
Flush the wound surface and interior as you can with a mild solution. A saline solution made from a small amount of salt diluted in water works well since it mimics your body’s internal pH. You can also use mild or diluted soap in water works well or some purified water, then wipe the surface with clean gauze.
Bad Idea: Using Strong Antiseptics to Wash Wounds
Conventional wisdom suggests using disinfectants and antiseptics like hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, or iodine to clean open wounds. Most of these substances are better suited for disinfecting household surfaces and are far too harsh for use on human tissue. They are more likely to damage tissue than help it heal.
Good Idea: Keeping Open Wounds Covered and Moist
Medical professionals began to realize the benefits of covered, moist wounds as far back as the early 1960s. At that time, a Dr. George D. Winter published a paper revealing, “Wounds that were kept moist healed in approximately 12 to 15 days, while the same wound when exposed to the air healed in about 25 to 30 days.”
Covered, moist wounds transition more quickly into the proliferation phase of wound healing where new skin and tissue begins to grow. Wounds left to “air dry” periodically will form a crust over the epithelializing layer, inhibiting the growth of new granular tissue, slowing healing, and encouraging more scar formation. Dry air can also contribute to cell death for tissues not yet covered by a protective skin layer.
Keep your open wounds covered with advanced wound dressings like films and hydrogels. These products are specifically designed to create moist wound healing environments.
It is a wound dressing, but works beautifully to prevent blisters on your feet. It is a thin slightly stretchy tape with a paper backing that comes on a roll. Since it's flexible it conforms to the contours of your foot. When you apply it to blister prone areas the friction goes on the tape rather than your skin. It comes in 2", 4" & 6" widths. I like the 4". You can find it, or the similar Hypafix tape in most of the farmacias along the Camino.Pardon my ignorance but what is omnifix used for on the camino? .I've looked it up and it seems to be a wound dressing
Hi Laurie, I guess you have already read @davebugg foot care opus, he appears to have the blister thing well and truely covered. Most caminos I have greased my feet and been blister free, however I have lost my big toe nails every trip, but they grow back, eventually. Even my archillies tendon has repaired itself, mostly.
More important, where are you heading off from?
So glad to hear that your achilles is getting better, too — is the thought of another camino creeping in?
Many thanks for the explanation. ..sounds like a useful productIt is a wound dressing, but works beautifully to prevent blisters on your feet. It is a thin slightly stretchy tape with a paper backing that comes on a roll. Since it's flexible it conforms to the contours of your foot. When you apply it to blister prone areas the friction goes on the tape rather than your skin. It comes in 2", 4" & 6" widths. I like the 4". You can find it, or the similar Hypafix tape in most of the farmacias along the Camino.
I’m surprised davebugg hasn’t replied.
I won’t go into the blister treatment.
Betadine is a disinfectant and is drying.
Antibacterial ointment prevents infection from bacteria and will keep things moist.
So, I would wash the affected area with soap water. And/or clean with betadine then apply the antibacterial ointment then the bandaid.
BUT thats just me.
—Jackie
Like the vodka idea! And if it doesn’t get used for the external wounds it could be beneficial internally. As someone else said on this forum they don’t take anything that doesn’t have two or more uses! LOLA medical professional we have used (she’s an interesting mix of functional neurologist, kinesiologist and chiropractor) advises not using Betadine or Dettol etc because of the harm that accompanies the good. When she hikes she carries a small vial of vodka that will (in her words) clean without killing!
Thank you for the wound care info - I did an experiment when I came off a bike and got some good grazes. I covered one set and left the others open. The uncovered ones dried out and (I thought) healed more quickly. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they scabbed more quickly rather than healed.
Well, if we deleted every post whose question could be answered elsewhere on the internet, we wouldn’t have many posts left to read. I was just wondering if forum members had experience using these two different products.
I don’t want to start a battle about whether to open blisters or not. I understand that some people think it’s a bad idea. I have tried many different methods on the camino, and this is the one that works best for me. Compeed doesn’t work for me. The Spanish method of using a needle and leaving the thread in did not work for me. Surrounding the blister with molefoam and taping it to prevent further pounding helped with the blister I was treating but usually made another blister pop up somewhere else. Leaving blisters alone did not work for me, because small blisters just turned into huge blisters. If I could change shoes, maybe that would be the solution, but since I cannot walk in my Chacos, my only alternative is to walk barefoot and leave the blister alone or deal with it when it is nascent. I am not encouraging anyone else to try it. Every time I fall and scrape my leg or arm, the top layer of skin has come off. I treat it and it heals. The same works for me with blisters.
BUT.... back to the question. I have gone to the internet and seen that Betadine also makes an antibacterial cream! So that’s confusing. For years, I have only used antibacterial cream, but last year had several people tell me to put betadine on first if I was out in the boonies and didn’t have access to sterile (or close to sterile) conditions. Then at the next stop, wash it all with soap and hot water and put on the anti-bacterial cream.
Betadine is used and recommended so widely in Spanish farmacias, it just left me wondering. But maybe I’ll just go back to only using antibacterial cream.
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