Reduce Pain and Speed Healing of Skin Blisters.

YOU hoed in the garden all afternoon. Your new shoes are too tight. You touched a hot pan.
Now you have a blister, a small area of broken cells where leaking fluid has pooled and separated the outer layer of skin from the underlying tissue. The best thing you can do is to leave it intact, because a broken blister is more likely to become infected. Just let it heal naturally. If you want to help nature take its course, though, alternative healers offer the following remedies.

LAVENDER ESSENTIAL OIL: Repair Skin Cells
The essential oil of lavender is thought to regenerate skin cells, speeding healing from a blister, says Brigitte Mars, a nutritional consultant and herbalist in Boulder, Colorado. Lavender is one of the few essential oils that you can apply directly to the skin without diluting it in a carrier oil. Just put a few drops of pure oil-not a fragrance or perfume-on the blister, then cover it with an adhesive bandage. Apply the oil two or three times a day until the blister is healed.

HORSE CHESTNUT: Reduce Swelling
The herb horse chestnut can help relieve the collection of fluid in a blister, says Bradley Bongiovanni, N.D., a naturopathic physician in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Add 1 teaspoon of horse chestnut tincture to 1 cup of cool water, then soak a clean cloth in the liquid and place it over the blister for 20 minutes. Do this two or three times a day until the blister is emptied of fluid.

HYDROTHERAPY: Cool It Down
Putting a cool washcloth on the area can help relieve the pain, itching, or general discomfort of a blister, Dr. Bongiovanni says. Use this remedy as often as needed.

DANDELION: Fresh Stems for Faster Healing
The "sap" of dandelion stems is loaded with vitamin A, which can speed healing of a blister, says Norma Pasekoff Weinberg, an herbal educator in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. If you have dandelions in your yard that haven't been sprayed with pesticides, pick a few, split the stems, put the white, milky juice on the blister, and cover it with a bandage. Reapply once a day until the blister heals. Some people are sensitive to the juice, however, so if you feel any itching or discomfort, wash it off immediately.

CALENDULA: To the Rescue
If a blister breaks, putting the herb calendula on the area can help the skin heal more quickly, says Weinberg. You can either buy calendula oil in a health food store or get calendula tincture and combine 1 part tincture with 10 parts distilled water. Apply once or twice a day, covering the blister with a bandage until it is healed.