My mother came to visit last month. She bought a new pair of shoes, wore them all day, and came home with a deroofed blister on her big toe. Bad news for mum. But as it turned out, good news for me. Because I wanted to show you the white gel bubble that shows hydrocolloid healing.
There’s only one other good photographic example of hydrocolloid healing showing the white gel bubble and I was keen to enhance that.
The only thing was, she was leaving the next day. So she promised to take photos and send them to me. She did a great job. Her photos clearly show how the hydrocolloid white bubble forms so you can see this is completely normal.
New deroofed blister with hydrocolloid blister plaster applied.
A white gel bubble starts to form within hours which indicates the wound is healing.
What Hydrocolloid Healing Looks Like
Hydrocolloid blister plasters are exudate-absorbent hydrophilic gel dressings. They’re rubbery and slightly translucent. As your deroofed blister weeps, the hydrocolloid material absorbs the fluid and turns into a gel. From the outside, it looks like a white bubble. The dressing remains waterproof the whole time. The white bubble is a sign that your blister is healing.
You can learn more about how hydrocolloid blister plasters work here including:
- When you should change your plaster
- What your blister will look like when you take your plaster off
- Why you should tape the edges of your plaster down
Blister healed! Mum sent me a photo of her healed blister a week later on her way down south.
Here's another example of the white bubble that indicates healing. This one is an actual burn from an oil spill while cooking.
Examples of Hydrocolloid Blister Plasters
- Compeed Blister Patches - Three convenient shapes/sizes of blister plasters.
- BlisterPod Hydrocolloid Blister Plasters - Like Compeed, but sterile! AND with fixation tape provided.
- Duoderm Ulcer Dressings - Used more in the hospital setting for ulcers and bed sores
- Comfeel Ulcer Dressings - As above
