This is antiseptic, astringent and soothing.

Under a combination of dampness and heat the skin becomes soft and tender and is apt to become blistered and abraded. Unaccustomed exercise and ill fitting shoes are responsible for most of the blisters which develop on the foot, usually on the heels and toes. They constitute the most serious troubles with which the amateur pedestrian will have to contend, especially those with a soft skin and sweaty feet. On a long hike the condition should have been averted by the toughening treatment at home as outlined above. In blistering the skin is raised and filled with a collection of watery serum. The fluid must be evacuated and the skin left intact as a protective cover during the healing process. Remove the fluid by passing a needle, which has been heated until red, obliquely through the sound skin at the edge of the blister, withdraw and allow the fluid to escape. In the case of very large blisters use a needle and thread and sterilize by boiling. Pass through the blister and snip off the ends of the thread to within ¼ inch of the blister and leave it to act as a drain. Cover all with a soft clean cloth until the serum is all out then cover with adhesive plaster. One can thus continue walking without pain and rely upon complete recovery in a couple of days.

Abrasions are blisters with skin removed, due to rubbing of the shoes in walking and they are very painful because of the access of air upon the exposed nerves of the true skin. Small abrasions may be washed clean and dried, covered with an adhesive strip, and dismissed. Larger ones may need to be cleaned and treated with some antiseptic ointment and covered with absorbent cotton and adhesive. The secret is to prevent them in the first place by proper foot care, and if started to examine and treat them from time to time to prevent their enlargement.

A corn is a circumscribed thickness of skin at a point, usually on a toe, where there is pressure and friction between a bony prominence and the shoe. It is similar to a callus but differs from the latter in having a central peg or core projection inward toward the bone and by pressing on fine nerves producing pain. The pain stops when the outside pressure is removed. If the corn is between two toes where it becomes macerated by heat and moisture it is called a “soft corn.”

In treating a corn the cause must be remedied and this usually consists in getting footwear with plenty of “toe room,” thus relieving the pressure. For cure the callosity must be softened and removed. If the corn is not severe simply softening by soaking in hot soapy water and paring with a razor-sharp knife blade will often suffice. To remove corns: (1) Wash the foot well at bedtime. Soak for ten minutes in hot soapy water which will soften a corn so it will appear white. (2) Wipe dry. (3) Apply corn medicine. The chief ingredient of most of the advertised corn cures is salicylic acid and a convenient preparation is made by your druggist as follows:

Corn Collodion
Salicylic acid11 parts
Extract Cannibis Indica 2 parts
Alcohol10 parts
Flexible collodion77 parts

Apply with a wisp of cotton twisted on a match or toothpick, dip in solution and paint on the corn and allow to dry. Repeat the above nightly for four times. (4) On the fourth night the corn should be dead and whitish in color. After washing pare around the edge of the corn with a knife blade and lift the core out in one piece, including all of the thickened tissue down to the quick. The result is a complete cure if the attachments of the corn are taken out all at once.

Soft corns must be treated the same as hard ones: soften the corn tissue so it will come away without pain. Preferably here one should use an ointment instead of collodion; salicylic acid 40 parts, vaseline 30 parts and lanolin 30 parts. Smear this over the corns and keep the toes apart with absorbent cotton. Remove the cause.

Because they are so common foot injuries must not be resigned to as inevitable. Prevention is simple and the rewards to the tramper adequate.