| |
Gear Reviews
Documents
Tools
|
Adventure Medical Blister Treatments
Test Series by Kurt Papke
Initial Report
May 11, 2008
Tester Information
| Name: |
Kurt Papke |
| Age: |
54 |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Height: |
6' 4" (193 cm) |
| Weight: |
220 lb (100 kg) |
| Email address: |
kwpapke at gmail dot com |
| City, State, Country: |
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA |
Backpacking background: mostly in Minnesota - have hiked all of the
Superior
Hiking Trail, starting on the Border Route.
Preferred/typical backpack trip is one week. Dayhiking in
Utah,
Colorado and Oregon. Mostly Spring/Fall seasons.
Comfort-weight hiker: I try to carry as few items as possible, but do
not go to extremes to reduce weight of items carried. I blister
just by looking at my hiking boots. This seems to be something
inherent in my skin, as I blister badly on my hands as well when rowing
for instance, and I've tried all the usual remedies and
preventative measures. I rarely make a fire while backpacking, so
I am unlikely to test the use of the GlacierGels on burns.
Initial Report
Product Information
| Manufacturer: |
Adventure
Medical Kits
|
Product:
|
BlisterMedic
|
GlacierGel
|
| Year of manufacture: |
2008 |
Expiration date:
(unlisted items had no visible expiration dating)
|
Alcohol
pads:
September 2009
|
GlacierGel dressings: January 2011
|
| Manufacturer website: |
http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com |
| Weight as received including packaging: |
2.3 oz (66 g)
|
1.7 oz
(49 g)
|
Weight as received without
shelf packaging (includes zip bag):
|
1.5 oz (42
g)
|
0.9 oz (25
g)
|
Package dimensions (measured):
|
4.25 x 5.5 x
0.5 inches (10.8 x 14 x 1.3 cm)
|
4.25 x 5.5 x
0.25 inches (10.8 x 14 x 0.7 cm) |
| MSRP: |
$10.00 US per package
|
$9.90 US per
package
|
Product Description
 The BlisterMedic kit
contains pretty much everything I need to clean and dress a blister
with the possible exception of a lance tool: Moleskin (22 pads pre-cut
in 5
sizes & shapes), GlacierGel (one large, one small), antiseptic
towelettes (6) and alcohol wipes (6). The counts on the packaging
matched the contents of the kit, but the website differed stating 15
dressings and 15 wipes.
The Moleskin pads are pre-cut and come on two identical sheets, which
combined provide two large oval, four small oval, four medium toe
(kidney shaped), six small toe, and six small strips (rectangular).
The GlacierGel kit contains three large and three small dressings plus
supposedly six alcohol wipes, though my package contained only
five. The packaging and website indicates that the
dressing gel contains 50% water, but I was not able to find what the
other half is.
The packaging as seen in the above photos is high-quality plastic with
illustrative photos on the front and explanatory text on the back and
inside fold-out leaf.
 Inside the
packaging the various bits of the kits are contained in a small, thin
zip baggy as can be seen in the photo on the left. The bagged
kits without the shelf packaging are well-designed to be directly
stowed into a backpack with no re-bagging.
The alcohol pads in both kits contain simple solutions of 70% isopropyl
alcohol. This is a standard product for use in cleaning a skin
area in preparation for a dressing application to improve adhesion,
including those instances where antibiotic is not needed. In this
case that would be when a blister is not
lanced.
The active ingredient in the antibiotic towelettes is BZK (benzalkonium
chloride), interestingly enough the same ingredient used in the
Adventure Medical Fresh Bath Travel Wipes also reviewed in this test
series. See that report for comments on this biocide.
Initial Impressions
I elected not to open any of the dressings, towelettes or wipes.
They would dry out quickly and decrease the number available for test
during hiking.
Packaging:
The "directions for use" on the back of the package and fold-out leaf
are somewhat hard to
read. A very small typeface
is used. I can hardly read the text even with my reading glasses
on. The type is set mostly in white and has
very poor contrast against the green background, making it very
difficult to read in all but the best lighting conditions. The
French directions were set in yellow type making it even harder to
decipher. One downside of putting all the directions for use on
the shelf packaging and nothing on the nice zip baggy is that I am
unlikely to take the heavy, bulky shelf package with me. This
means the directions for use stay home. The exception is the
GlacierGel packets which have very clear instructions on the packet.
The quantities in the GlacierGel kit seem well-balanced: six dressings
with six prep alcohol wipes. The BlisterMedic kit
seemed short on the antiseptic wipes and alcohol towelettes with only
six alcohol wipes and six antiseptic towelettes, but the kit contains
22
Moleskin dressings.
The Moleskin sheets fit very tightly into the zip bag width. It
was a bit
of a struggle getting them back into the bag without folding the
sheets. It was not overly difficult to perform this sitting in my
well-lit office at a desk, but doing so in the field under adverse
conditions in a state of fatigue might be trying.
Moleskins: I am
accustomed to cutting Moleskin sheets to the size and shape of my
blisters. The size, shape and quantities of the pre-stamped
pads seem appropriate.
GlacierGel: I
ordinarily encourage my blisters to dry out after lancing. I look
forward to seeing how an aqueous solution held against a blister
impacts the healing time and/or additional blister growth.
Test Plan
I have
plans for a week-long May trek through the Boundary Waters (Border
Route
Trail) and a segment of the Superior Hiking Trail (about 120
miles). I will attempt to assess:
- Usability: how easy is it to pack the kits on my
person or pack?
How easy is it to remove the products from their packaging and
apply? How hard is it to re-pack kit contents in the field after
dressing a blister?
- Reliability & robustness: How well do the Moleskin and
GlacierGel dressings stick and stay on my feet? The GlacierGels
claim to last for four days - I am skeptical but hopeful that will be
achieved. I have
used some similar products and they wouldn't stay on my feet more than
a few hours.
- Functionality: how effective are the Moleskin shapes and sizes -
do they fit my blisters? Does the GlacierGel promote healing,
relieve pain and
prevent additional blister growth? How effective are the alcohol
wipes at promoting dressing retention? Do the antiseptic wipes
prevent infections well? It should be noted I am not prone to
infection despite having lanced dozens and dozens of blisters without
use of any antiseptic.
- Quantity/sizing: how much of the kits do I consume on a one-week
trip? Do I run out? Do I run out of alcohol wipes and
antiseptic towelettes long before my Moleskin is gone?
- Adverse effects: do the GlacierGels inhibit blister healing by
keeping them overly moist?
This concludes my Initial Report on Adventure Medical BlisterMedic and
GlacierGel.
The Field Report will be appended to this document in about 3 months.
Many thanks to Adventure Medical Kits and BackpackGearTest.org for the
opportunity to
test this product.
Read more reviews of Adventure Medical Kits gear
Read more gear reviews by Kurt Papke
|
