okay I'm going to get into reviewing my pocket blister and foot care kit let's
take a look there it is 3.6 ounces and in my philosophy of use we'll talk about
application and use here this is a small compact lightweight and easily carried
foot and blister care kit it has the minimum treatment capabilities to take
care of hot spots and blisters given a small package so taking care of
constraints of weight and size this gives you adequate adequate field
management for hot spots and blisters its vacuum packed and waterproof you
guys have seen that I've been doing a lot of vacuum packing of my kits lately
and I really like that technique first of all it makes everything tight and
secure it's a nice thin package totally waterproof if I actually have to use it
by the fact that I've opened it when I come home if I have an open package
that's going to tell me that I want to go through my kit contents refit and put
it back into operational condition this package measures about 4 by 5 inches and
it's just under half an inch thick it weighs under 4 ounces in this case 3.6
ounces so let's go through the kit contents here and then I'll break it
open and we'll take a look at it again nice small package 2 pairs of gloves
spend Co second skin spent Co blister pads antimicrobial wipes some mul foam 3
by 4 inches moleskin thick 3 by 4 inches moleskin thin this comes in strips about
an inch and a half by 3 but you can get it in bigger pieces and some moleskin
thin covered strips that are 3 by 4 a razor blade safety pin and alcohol pads
now if I were to add to this kit some optional high-grade upgrades that I
would consider would be some little snap ampules of benzoin tincture
benzoin I have a few of those I didn't put them in because I haven't found a
reliable source for you guys to find them I'm looking for that and when I do
I'll post that but that would be a nice high-grade upgrade benzoin
and we can talk about how that's helpful for blisters later certainly is very
good to help with sticking of the adhesive tape another upgrade that would
be nice to put in here would be perhaps three feet of 2-inch or certainly one
and a half inch adhesive medical tape and probably I don't know two feet or so
of duct tape now I carry that stuff in my pack elsewhere and I didn't put it in
this kit because this is taking care of most blisters for me in the field but if
you wanted to make a kit that has everything in it those would be
high-grade upgrades that I would add let's clear the deck here and we'll
break up in this pack and go through how to use it edged and then I want to go
over a quick demonstration of how to manage blisters and then also just point
out to you that and I've been trying to do this on all my kids just to help out
but in the sidebar notes you'll find a clickable link where you can download
the kit contents label and I would print this on water proof paper you've seen me
talk about the National Geographic adventure paper that's a nice waterproof
paper that will make a durable label out in the field and then I'm gonna go over
a little treatment algorithm for taking care of blisters in the field it's
called a primer on blister management and care this is also a PDF document
that's going to be available in a downloadable link just check out the
sidebar notes so most of these kits that I vacuum seal I put a I don't know if
you can see that but there's a little notch cut out there and that just makes
it a little easier to open these kits
and of course I'm having trouble with it today and I think the reason is is
because I I made this a very tight kit and the the seal is coming right up
again the al sac package inside here so I'm
gonna just stop for a second get a pair of scissors or you can certainly use a
pocketknife which I carry now I've got included in there is one of these al
sack bags I can then just seal that up keep it in my pocket to continue caring
for someone's blister or my blister and then if I come home and it's looking
like this out of the package then that's going to be my cue to go through and and
refit the package and again if you end up doing any of these vacuum sealing
you've seen this little trick that I do where I take a piece of gauze put it in
the bag which keeps the bag open and it allows a vacuum track so that when I
fold this over and put it in the vacuum sealer that'll suck down this bag real
tight and put a vacuum in the bag so let's take a look what's inside the kit
here probably the most useful thing in this kit are going to be the spent ko
pre fit and pre-cut blister pads for most small blisters these things will
work great but if you have a blister that's bigger or perhaps say a more raw
spot that you need to isolate you're going to have some more firepower in
this kit okay here are the little thin moleskin cover strips a razor blade and
a safety pin here is some medicated first-aid pads and these are basically
antiseptic and anesthetic so they'll give you a little bit of burn relief for
those blisters that you have to open up again all my medical kits I like to
throw in at least a pair or two of nitrile gloves I think it's just good
hygiene for yourself and the person you're taking care of to put on a pair
of gloves maybe just to have it I developed at work here's a alcohol pads
now four big nasty blisters that are going to exceed the capability of these
spent Co blister pads this is going to be your main firepower right here and
I've actually had this in my bag for perhaps I want to say ten years I'm
pretty sure ten years I got this particular package at the mountain store
in Yosemite this is made by spent co it's called second skin and it basically
is it has plastic on both sides that you peel off and it is a very wet hydrated
gel that you can put on top of a blister that really cushions it and sooth it and
it decreases the friction which causes blisters and makes blisters worse spent
Koh and you get it at REI and and in most outdoor stores the nice thing is it
comes in a sealable bag and I just fold this down and keep it in my ziplock bag
and if it's stayed it has stayed wet and moist I've used one sheet it came with
two sheets in here and again this pack is 10 years old so this is a great
product okay here are some thick moleskin and two sheets of thin moleskin
no big difference between the white and the in the tan just different product
and then one more little piece of gear that's going to be helpful this is mul
foam it's about an eighth of an inch thick it's a soft cushiony foam that is
adhesive on one side this is great for making a cushion doughnut to isolate a
blister and again this is all packed in a three by five al sack bag with a
waterproof label and that label is a good way for me to know what's in the
kit and how to replenish this kit and if you open this up and you're out in the
field and I live in Oregon it's always raining or you have to consider it's
going to rain sometime during your outing this is never going to
or smear it's always going to be a durable thing and if I need to I can
make notes on the back alright let's go over how to use these items