For dance
Ballet blisters, and what actually helps
Pointe shoes make blisters in specific places. The tips of the first two toes. The side of the big toe joint where it meets the box. Between toes, pressed together with nowhere to go. The back of the heel, under the drawstring.
Before anything else: blisters in the same spot, every time, are usually the shoe. If it’s been happening for months, it’s worth getting refitted, or trying a different fitter — a lot of blister problems turn out to be a fit problem wearing a disguise.
The rest of this is for the blisters you get anyway.
Is it rubbing, or is it pressure?
Two different problems, and they want different things.
Rubbingis the hot spot, or a blister forming where skin moves against the shoe. Hydrocolloid is for this. Podiatrist Rebecca Rushton, who’s spent thirty years on friction blisters, points out that blisters come from skin being repeatedly pulled sideways rather than from rubbing as such — a layer over the top spreads that pull across a wider patch of skin instead of concentrating it in one spot.
Pressureis the box pressing down on a blister that’s already up and swollen. Hydrocolloid won’t fix that. What dancers use is a donut-shaped corn pad, with the blister sitting in the hole so nothing touches it.
If you can’t get over the box, it’s pressure. Reach for the donut.
Padding
Why dancers avoid bulky padding.
Thin is about control. As Lisa Howell of The Ballet Blog puts it, use as little padding as possible, because too much “will interfere with your ability to feel the floor and control the front of the shoe.”
There’s a second trap. A shoe sized up to swallow thick pads is a shoe that doesn’t fit, and that makes its own blisters.
Hydrocolloid is thin for the same reason dancers like paper tape.
Before class.
- 1
Find the rub. Tips of the toes, the big toe joint, between the second and third toes, the back of the heel.
- 2
Dry the skin. Hydrocolloid won’t stick to damp feet. Wipe first. Powder in the shoe helps if you sweat.
- 3
Cut it to fit. Between toes and around a joint, a pre-cut patch is the wrong shape. Cut a strip off the roll and wrap it. Leave a centimetre or two past the edges of the sore bit so it has clean skin to grip.
- 4
Hold it on with paper tape. Sweat shifts anything you put on your foot, which is why dancers tape over the top. Use thin surgical or micropore tape — the kind that tears by hand. Our roll tape is the hydrocolloid layer that sits on your skin. The tape that holds it there is a different thing, and you want both. Wrap it so the ends overlap onto themselves rather than onto skin, or it scrunches.
- 5
Put the shoe on and stand. Padding changes the fit of a shoe you were fitted in. If the box feels different, cut it smaller.
Afterwards
After class, and leaving it alone.
Most of the healing happens between classes, and so does a lot of the damage. Street shoes, socks and the walk home all keep working on a blister that’s already sore.
So don’t take it off. If the patch from class is still stuck and hasn’t shifted, leave it exactly where it is — through the evening, overnight, into the next day. Showers too; it’s water-resistant, so it stays put. Change it only when it won’t stay on anymore.
That last bit is the part people get wrong. Peeling one off early can take the blister skin with it, and that loose flap is the best cover the blister has. This isn’t a daily-change plaster.
It’ll turn white and puffy as it works. That’s the stuff it has pulled out, and it is meant to.
Preferences
Where dancers disagree.
Some of this is preference. Here’s where the arguments are.
Popping.Most medical advice says leave it alone. Most dancers pop it anyway. If you do: clean hands, sterilised needle, drain it, and leave the flap of skin sitting over the top. Then put a hydrocolloid patch over the whole thing and change it only when it won’t stay on anymore. The patch does the job the intact blister roof used to do.
Drying out versus keeping it moist. The old-school method is to air it overnight, dry it, toughen the skin. Hydrocolloid does the opposite, keeping the blister moist so it heals without scabbing. Both camps are full of dancers who swear by it. We make hydrocolloid, so you can guess where we sit.
Padding versus calluses.Some teachers ban padding so the skin hardens. Others think that’s suffering for its own sake. Your teacher will have a view and it will be firmly held.
What to get
Patches or a roll you cut yourself.
Both are the same hydrocolloid. They come in different shapes.
Blister patches
Pre-cut, in a few sizes. Fine for a toe tip or the back of a heel, where the shape is simple and you want it on fast.
Blister Patches →Roll tape
A 5cm roll you cut to any shape. This is the one for between toes, around a bunion, or wrapping a whole toe — the spots a pre-cut patch can’t sit on.
Roll Tape →You’ll also want thin paper or micropore tape to hold either one on through a sweaty class. Any chemist has it; we don’t sell it.
Same problem, other shoes
Boots do this too.
A heel rubbing in a tramping boot is the same injury as a heel rubbing under a drawstring. The trail blister guide covers hot spots, multi-day trips and breaking in new shoes.
For how to cut the roll so it stays put, and how the material compares to Compeed, see the hydrocolloid tape guide. Hands get it too — the rowing blister guide covers palms and fingers.
Common questions
The things dancers ask.
Can you dance in a hydrocolloid patch?
Yes. It is thin enough to go inside a pointe shoe. Cut it to size, tape over it, and check the fit before class rather than mid-centre.
What about blisters between the toes?
A pre-cut patch is the wrong shape for a gap between toes. Roll tape is 5cm wide — cut a thin band and wrap the toe.
Will it stay on through class?
Sweat is what shifts any covering, which is why dancers tape over the top. Dry skin first, paper tape second. Once it is on, leave it until it will not stay on anymore.
Should I pop a blister before class?
The safer answer is no. The honest answer is that most dancers do. If you do: sterile needle, drain it, leave the skin on top, and cover it with a hydrocolloid patch big enough to reach onto the skin around it.
What if the blister's already burst?
Wash it with mild soap and water and let it dry. Do not pull the loose skin off. Then cover it with a hydrocolloid patch and leave it on, showers included. Change it only when it will not stay on anymore — swapping it daily is how you tear the skin off with the peel. Redness spreading out from the blister, heat, swelling, or yellow or green pus means it is infected. That one needs a doctor.
Can I wear one between classes?
Yes. If the patch from class has not lifted or moved, just leave it on — evening, overnight, the shower, the next day. Cut a new one only when the old one will not stay on anymore.
My daughter is starting pointe. What do we need?
Shoes that fit properly, first. If she is blistering in the same spot week after week, it is worth another fitting, or a second opinion from a different fitter. After that, something thin for the rub and paper tape to hold it on.
Does it work for flat shoes, jazz shoes, barefoot?
Yes. Usually the heel or the ball of the foot.
Is this different from second skin or Compeed?
Same family of idea. MEND is NZ owned, ships from Auckland, and comes as a roll you cut to fit as well as pre-cut patches.
Sources for the two quotes above: Rebecca Rushton BSc(Pod) and Lisa Howell, The Ballet Blog. Burst-blister care follows NHS guidance.
Anything we haven’t covered, email hello@mendpatch.nz — a real person will reply.