How to Avoid Blisters, Even Though We Know Better Than to Go Out in New Shoes *Wink*

published 17 December 2016

Having to sideline yourself because your feet hurt has got to be the most humiliating secret party foul, sadder even than a spilt drink you paid for yourself. It's like a reverse internal monologue in which you go "Keep raging" and the Dark Kermit side of you says "Sit down like a weakling with no friends and a low pain threshold." But the paaiinn, MOOOMMM, on the inside *and* the outside. So how do you pass the endurance test that are shoes like these...

Even though they make perfectly lovely evening flats and going out in Vans low-tops is more fun anyway because then you can jump playground fences at 4 a.m. to get to the swings?

The key is prevention, says Dr. Jackie Sutera, podiatrist and Vionic Innovation Lab member, which means you definitely cannot expect to roll up in a pair of new fur-trimmed sandals and stay upright and blister-free past the second time they play "(I've Had) the Time of My Life."

"The best advice I can give is to wear new shoes at home for short periods of time before wearing them all day," Dr. Sutera says. "This gives you a chance to notice any sensitive spots and also allows the shoe to 'give' a little bit. I do not encourage people to 'break in' shoes. They should fit well at the store, and if they don't, don't buy them! But new shoes are always a bit stiff/tight, so wearing them a little while at a time definitely helps. If you do have sensitive spots, pad them with moleskin, or bandaids."

(American Ballet Theatre's Kathryn Boren, FYI, opts for 2nd Skin dressing s and Epsom-salt soaks.)

And should your efforts somehow fail because who's got the time to do a trail run, DO NOT PULL OR CUT OFF THE SKIN. Keep it covered and antibiotic-ed, and just choose another pair of vertiginous, torturous heels that rub different places. Beauty is pain. Pain means you're alive. Alive means you can keep partying. Let's go.

often the most elegant shoes conceal the gnarliest feet. see: ballerinasOctober 5, 2012

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Chelsea Peng is a writer and editor who was formerly the assistant editor at Marie Claire. She's also worked for The Strategist and Refinery29, and is a graduate of Northwestern University. On her tombstone, she would like a GIF of herself that's better than the one that already exists on the Internet and a free fro-yo machine. Besides frozen dairy products, she's into pirates, carbs, Balzac, and snacking so hard she has to go lie down.

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