Is there a physiological purpose for blisters to form as a form of protection/healing? Or is it just an aftermath of a burn/friction?
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The area under the blister tends to fill with fluid. That fluid helps protect the skin underneath it from further impacts and irritation while it heals. The fluid is also relatively clean and serves as a barrier against infection for that skin. The outside skin of the blister is *basically* dead skin and only serving to hold the fluid at that point, the part under it is technically a wound. So you can think of the outer skin and the fluid as like a scab, it’s just the way your body responds to a lot of friction on one area of the skin in the hopes that it alleviates the friction.
This is why most blister first aid recommends against popping the blister or letting the skin be torn. That removes the fluid and exposes a wound. This increases the odds of both more impacts doing more damage and developing an infection. The cases where you *should* pop a blister are generally the cases where you should be letting a doctor take over.
Sometimes the blister itself causes more friction. That’s when it’s best to either try to stop wearing the same shoes, reduce activity, or use moleskin or some other kind of padding around the blister to try and prevent it from encountering more friction.
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