Calluses — the body’s way of protecting itself against friction and pressure by hardening layers of skin.

As much as you love picking them, they are a huge blessing… except when one tears off!

A long-time gymnast and coach, Nick Sorrell, shared this with me yesterday on how he takes care of his hand tears:

From a medical standpoint, wounds heal better when moist because epithelial cells migrate faster in moist environments.

My favorite way to heal a rip fast is to keep Aquaphor ointment on it and covered pretty much at all times (or as much as socially acceptable and functionally possible) until healed.

At night it’s especially important to cover so I use a surgical glove with the fingers cut off. During the day I use Telfa and Coban. But you can use any occlusive bandage (there’s good medical data for silicone bandages but that’s hard to stick on the hand).

ALSO! If you have a blister don’t pop it! A blister is the world’s best biological bandage. So don’t let your rips dry out. Wounds heal slower when dry. It’s science.

Takeaway

Hand tears will heal fastest when (1) moist and (2) covered. Blood or “bubble” blisters are also extremely helpful and should not be popped in order to speed up healing.

If you want to hear more from Coach Sorrell, I’d recommend giving this podcast episode a listen.

Tyler