D ear Doctors: I do a lot of hiking and camping, and when there is terrain that is rough, a lot of times I’ll get a blister. How do you take care of that — are you supposed to pop it and drain it, or do you just cover it up? I’ve heard it’s easy for a blister to get infected, and I want to avoid that.

Dear Reader: A blister is a fluid-filled sac that forms within the outermost layers of the skin. It can be caused by burns, frostbite, sunburn, disease, allergic reaction and, as you have experienced, repeated rubbing. Known as friction blisters, these are by far the most common form of this type of skin injury. They occur when shifting pressure gradually forces apart the top layers of the skin. The fluid that seeps into and fills the space between the two separated layers is part of the

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