Duoderm on blisters?

[kate1114]

I am fairly new to the adult world, and in my NICU experience, we used duoderm mostly for beginning stages of skin breakdown or for facial protection to anchor OG tubes and such.

Recently I've seen a few patients come to the ICU with duoderm on heel blisters. When the duoderm is removed, typically the blister has burst at some point, leaving the moisture trapped in the duoderm causing greater skin breakdown with macerated skin.

Typically I try to just keep the extremity elevated with no pressure on the heel? What else do you do for heel blisters?

Thanks!

[jimthorp]

I never put an occlusive dressing on an intact blister or other wound with a dry, intact scab.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I've seen duoderm on heels before. Must be an old-school thing.

Our current practice is to paint the heel with betadine and leave it open to air and elevated. When they burst if they are bleeding or leaking, we follow our skin tear protocol which is a Mepitel dressing. http://www.dressings.org/Dressings/mepitel.html

Of course the best treatment is identifying those at risk and preventing them from happening in the first place. Duh. :)

[nuangel1, BSN, RN]

i have seen less usage of duoderm .i would not use it on a blister .

[gofigure]

Hi, I am a new nurse. What is duoderm? I have never seen it?:smilecoffeecup:

[GardenDove]

Hi, I am a new nurse. What is duoderm? I have never seen it?:smilecoffeecup:

It's a very thick, pliable adhesive drsg, with a spongy feel to it, it adheres very strongly to the skin, and is the color of a few peoples skin who are somewhat jaundiced, and aren't very light colored or extremely dark, but somewhere inbetween.

[RPN_2006]

Excellent link Tweety, thank-you.