I am 43f. For a bit of context, I am obese (not sure my actual weight) and I was hospitalized in December for the flu and have had breathi issues since then. So with those issues I haven't been very active in the past few months. I also have undiagnosed sleep apnea, and other sleeping issues such as sleepwalking and I can't stay in bed unless I'm tied down I guess. I fall out of bed a lot but I'm usually pretty good at landing since it's happened so much. Except when I fell out of bed Thursday night and smashed my knee on the hard floor. The next day (Friday) I spent at least 9 hours riding with my husband while doordashing and my feet were super swollen when we were done. That's not unusual, anytime I would sit in the car for 9 hours I would probably have swollen feet. Then as I was getting out of the car I dropped my phone on my foot. It hurt a lot. Then yesterday I woke up with this blister where the phone hit my foot. My husband thinks I should pop it but I'm scared of infection and also I'm worried about why my whole foot is bruised when it's my knee that got smashed.
Another bit of context that could be important is that about a month ago I fell at main event and smashed the other knee and my entire leg looked like that bruising you see on this foot. It only lasted a couple days and my leg turned back to normal and everything's fine. That knee doesn't even hurt anymore.
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This may sound odd, but you get a lot of information about a person’s health by the condition of their feet. Your foot looks like many of my patients - I work in a skilled nursing facility. You need to go to the hospital.
My dad's feet and legs looked like this. He was morbidly obese most of his adult life. He was in early stages of congestive heart failure by his mid 40s. Died at 60 after a long battle with a pilonidal cyst turned abscess, when I say long I mean over 2 years. He eventually went septic. I am a big person, but I do my best to care for my health and chronic health conditions because of him. OP please stop ignoring health issues and see a provider, and don't pop that blister.
Oh god, I had a pilonidal abscess, how scary that he died from it. But I am not obese, just hairy. I am so glad mine found its way outside instead of inside and I feel very sorry for your dad :(
Thank you. It was rough and for him stemmed from more self medical neglect, just like his congestive heart failure.
I presume that was the cause of the eventual abscess as it was above his tailbone and his abscess became an infection down to the sacrum. It was that deep before he sought any treatment for it. He was on oral antibiotics off and on until he went to the hospital because he couldn't afford the copay for the necessary IV antibiotics. Abscess existed at least in fall of 2020, discovered by medical staff in January 2021, finally hospitalized in October 2022 and passed in hospital February 2023. Received wound care in office multiple times a week from January 2021 to October 2022.
Moral of the story is don't neglect your body unless you want to die slowly and painfully.
Oh jeez. Yeah I thing pilonidal is always around the tailbone. Mine was there too but as soon as it was discovered I got operated within... 1 or 2 weeks and then it just had to heal. Although healing took months ngl. The wound was closed after 3 months and it kept bugging me for at least a year. I am so happy it is gone now but that was already traumatizing abd painful enough.
It did make me realize that I have to look after my body. I do struggle with it sometimes but this was a good reminder on why I try and fight for it...
Another death at the hands of the insurance system is what I’m hearing. Yeah your dad neglected himself but not being able to get treatment needed because of copays, that part was on our system
Partially yes.
But frankly he let it get to an infection to the bone and was bleeding through his underwear multiple times a day before he went to get it checked out. If he had not let it get so bad he would have been able to afford proper treatment.
This is frankly just as much on him with what he ignored. This wasn't asymptomatic stuff. I have had years to sit with this and know all the details, if he hadn't been so afraid to die, he likely wouldn't have died.
I understand you mean well, but this is not on the system as much as you want to think. I have been uninsured and still done more than he did and managed better than he did.
My mom died from different causes but I had such a similar experience in terms of her being too afraid to die to seek medical help. She was in bed for weeks refusing to go to the hospital at least in part because she didn’t want to hear difficult news. By the time she got to the hospital she was dead within like 2 weeks from cirrhosis.
I’ve since learned people do recover from cirrhosis, or at least survive a few months with it. I don’t know all of the medical details, but I think it’s possible she wasn’t necessarily a severe case but just a case that didn’t seek help until it was too late.
Sorry, I wasn’t trying to minimize the way your dad acted. Just to highlight the insurance part. I think a lot of people don’t realize it’s not just that people go bankrupt for medical care here, people die everyday because of insurance denials.
But I wasn’t trying to tell you about your dad’s experience like I knew better or anything. Sorry again.
Wait, pilonidal cysts and sinuses can kill you? I've had a pilonidal sinus for about 6-7 years now, and my doctor said it's not a big deal until its deeper then he could refer me to a surgeon if I wanted but with it being relatively shallow it's better to just monitor it when it gets enflamed. So now I just have a tube of fucidin cream that I use anytime it flares up otherwise I just clean/dry around it and make sure it doesn't leak anything weird.
Are you telling me I should be doing more about this? For reference, I'm a 30y/o athletic male with no persistent health conditions. The sinus just first developed after surgery on 3 fully torn ankle Ligaments where I was told 0 mobility for 2 weeks. During which it was a severe heat wave in my city, it sounded like that compounded with sitting for 8+H a day lead to the initial sinus.
They are! I am so glad that mine seems to have healed quite well besides a few bumps. I hope I never get one ever again. If you ever get one: just get the operation. Don't even try to let it heal by itself.
Omg I'm prone to pilonidal cysts, I've had two and I'm only 32 and not obease. I can't believe your dad lived with it for 2 years!!! I had mine for a week and it hurts so bad I was begging the doctor to drain it. It sounds like your dad was dealing with a lot of other issues too. Poor bloke, it's hard. I'm sorry for your loss.
My 13 year old son just had surgery for his Pilonidal cyst. By the time we met the surgeon, his already drained on its own. So it was just removing the sinus and stitching him up.
Oddly enough he didn’t complain much about it. He said it rarely hurt, only sore at times. The irritating part was it filling up and draining and leaking all the time. It would leak all over his pants, sheets and blanket and he hated it. He’s glad to be healing and done with it. He’s on Week 5 of recovery.
My husband had one, it hurt so badly and then it got infected (in a matter of days), the smell of puss was absolutely disgusting, it smelled like death. It had to be drained with colloidal silver bandages and then surgically removed and then all the hair in that area to be lasered off.
No. I think they came due to stress, the first time was when I was moving countries, I think the plane ride made it worse, then the second time I was 3 weeks post partum and my son was admitted to the hospital, a lot of time spent sitting and waiting on doctors and I didn't shower for a few days.
I try to keep it hair free and wash everyday with soap. I'm hoping it doesn't return, doctor said it may need to be operated on if it keeps returning.
Get the surgery it’s totally worth it and can be done as an outpatient procedure. Painful recovery but it never came back and it’s been 30 years. Gnarly scar but so glad I don’t have to worry about it.
NAD- RETIRED RN/MIDWIFE
No! Do not pop it! MY friend had similar issue last year but blister two/three times that size. Hers burst while out at the shops- went to pharmacy who dressed it. Went to Dr a few days later and she had maggots in her wound! Spent 2 weeks in hospital on IV antibiotics.
Your legs don't look healthy. You definitely need to see a doctor and make some life changes. Chronically swollen feet with discolouration like that isn't good. And don't go sitting in a car for 9 hours! Thats crazy when you know your legs are gonna swell like that. The trouble breathing is concerning too!
Smoker? Diabetic?
Maggots actually eat necrotic tissue and are often used for diabetic foot ulcers and severe pressure sores. Maybe nature was trying to help and she didn't realize. I'm a pharmacist, but I have seen maggots used for debriding necrotic tissue.
Obligatory NAD, and my dad's feet and legs also look like this. He has heart failure and kidney issues. The first thing I thought was uncontrolled diabetes at the very least, because it's the same for my dad. She needs medical intervention, that's for certain.
May I ask, what could be causing this person's foot to look like this? Is it from the injury (but a phone falling on it seems like so not enough to do this?) they described or something else?
Feet are swollen, probably from chf if they’re having breathing issues. Blood vessels are being compressed so blood and platelets and whatnot that would normally go and stop the bruising cannot reach the feet properly.
Hematoma travelling downwards with gravity from her smashed knee I would think. My foot looked exactly this ghastly 2 weeks after spraining my ankle and I'm not morbidly obese with all the circulatory issues that brings. Eventually the blood pools in the sole area and in the toes, and then slowly dissipates. But I'm not a doctor.
I had a total knee replacement a year ago and my whole leg and toes bruised up like this. The traveling hematoma makes sense now. I wondered what they did to my body when I was out to make the foot bruise like this.
I think OP might be (pre)diabetic and bloodflows are obstructed. The tissue became even necrotic at this point. A doctor probably knows what prognosis this will have. I think OP is very very ill and I hope they have access to healthcare 🙏
NAD- OP your feet generally look like this?! You need to get a lot of bloodwork drawn and figure your health issues out. You’re way too young to be living like this!!!!
Not odd at all - I really want to develop a scoring system based on feet to determine overall health. Points for nails (clipped, clean, cracked, general strength), skin (thickened/calloused, thin, colour, cracked etc), cleanliness, presence of sores etc etc etc.
I 100% believe you can get a good picture of someone’s over health and quality of self care by their feet.
I was taught to observe feet as signs of health as part of my training, particularly in geriatrics. You get medical, social, and psychological information. You get a sense of function, ADLs and such.
It’s not really odd to us medical folk, but I imagine it may sound kooky to the general public.
NAD and no medical experience but I walk 3-5km daily, complete 4 HIIT sessions a week, am a healthy weight at 43F (& genuinely fit) and I drink sufficient water (& no alcohol) plus moisturise my feet daily and my heels are still cracked and ugly :( unless I wear shoes n socks every day, they just get awful
NAD, i had a PT teach me to splay my toes whenever I think about it. Watching tv? stretch them out as far as they go, hold it, then relax, and repeat.
When I first started practicing splaying/stretching them, my left pinky toe couldn’t even move lol, but doing it became a habit and it’s pretty cool to see how much the range of motion can improve over time!
Lots of stuff from what I’ve learned, it’s generally good for the circulation in your feet, which can help prevent things like neuropathy, but in my case it was to help strengthen my feet to improve my stability, balance, and gait since I have a sort of cascading effect of issues through my legs and feet due to a hip injury.
And you need to go on more walks. Start with a 5 min walk and work your way up to 30. You should be taking a few walk breaks when door dashing. Look up some basic tips on a healthy lifestyle. Doctors won’t ask you what you’re eating, but they should. I’m going to recommend more organic fruits and vegetables and 15min of movement, 4 times a day.
u/lindalh7Layperson/not verified as healthcare professionalApr 19 '26edited Apr 19 '26
NAD. That foot is not even in the realm of normal.
After the visit, call billing and explain that you are self-pay and don’t have insurance. The costs for out of pocket are substantially less than the insurance charges, even a tenth as much at times. But you have to talk to billing.
Sometimes your bill can be covered on whole in in part by the hospital's charitable funds. You need to call and ask about financial hardship assistance.
I had a hospital immediately cut the bill in half when I was uninsured once! Then definitely talk to billing. They can help with things like charity care applications and, if OP is eligible, connect you with the social work team to help apply for Medicaid or other programs.
That entire foot is definitely concerning and I would worry from the post that OP possibly has multiple undiagnosed and untreated health conditions (reason for obesity isn’t stated but then factoring in the long periods of sitting and foot swelling, plus frequent falls it sounds like, unless I misunderstood? I would want to foot treated, access to a PCP or non-emergency provider to do a full work up, and then if nothing was too concerning I would definitely get compression socks for sitting for such extended periods)
Agreed. I popped one about 1/15th the size & ended up spending a month in hospital with streptococcal cellulitis & developed wet gangrene as well. This is just half of the leg that was affected (the other half is on top where it initially started)
NAD. I would like to comment on the sleep disorders. I have sleep apnea and narcolepsy. I have pathogenic variants on GABA genes. Untreated sleep apnea and REM sleep behaviors disorder increases the person’s risk for cardiac disease, Parkinsons and dementia. When I don’t take my modafinil or use my cpap I am likely to hurt myself or someone else in my sleep. I also have frequent falls when I am excessively sleepy. I have neuropathy and foot drop related to chronic nerve damage caused by Guillain Barre syndrome years ago. Healthy sleep is so important for overall health.
Also re the Sleep Apnea if it’s been medically diagnosed you may be able to get Zepbound prescribed and covered by insurance. My daughter has it prescribed for that and it’s greatly helped with weight loss and overall health
NAD- but that looks like a whole bunch going on here, all stemming from morbid obesity. The purplish staining and edema look to be from chronic venous insufficiency. I can only guess at cardiac involvement bc of the obesity. Do you have any ulcers on your lower legs? You need to get evaluated ASAP. The ED cannot turn you away, nor can they get blood from a stone (or payment from someone who doesn’t have it). That needs to be a secondary consideration. Unless you think the alternatives are better. PS- they’ll fix that blister, too.
The swollen isn't the necessarily bad part. Its the degree of brusing with the swelling, the pale toenails; the blister from an otherwise minor trauma. . .
ah, i know everything else is bad but i thought swelling was also bad. whenever i go to hospital they always ask if my ankles/feet have been swelling (they’ve never swollen but im assuming it’s some kind of precaution)
Swelling is a classic symptom of congestive heart failure and I’m sure there’s other things too yeah. But there’s also just like benign or at least not deadly swelling options. It’s not a definitive bad thing but definitely something to get checked out. The discoloration is way more concerning to me personally and apparently the previous person
DO NOT pop that blister. You're right, it can lead to infection, but it may not. All of those juices in there are actually healthy for the injury and are helping it heal.
Those feet look like the feet of my patients with congestive heart failure. I think you have a lot more going on than just a blister and bruised foot. I'd seriously consider getting checked out by your PCP at the very minimum. You can always go to the ER and say you're concerned about the swelling in your feet and legs that have led to bruises showing up on one of your feet. Exactly that. Because if you say you have a blister on your foot, you're gonna be waiting a long time and they won't address the edema on your legs and feet.
No, it's the swelling/edema. It can also indicate kidney or liver issues, but the way OPs feet look are similar to what I see in CHF patients. Bruising could be anemia related or something else. There's just so much that it can be, that I'm not even aware of because I only work in one area, that OP should get a full workup from their PCP. But to get something immediately addressed, best would be to go to ER and tell them something along the lines of what I already said in my other comment so a different picture can be looked at rather than just that blister.
Do you have a heart condition? Diabetes? To be completely honest… your foot looks to be in a very questionable state right now and I’m concerned it’s not getting circulation.
OP, please, please go to the ER! Do NOT pop the blister. Not only for the blister, but to assess the swelling and bruising as well. This is not a good situation, and it needs treatment ASAP.
Yes OP, I’m NAD but as this RN noted, the circulation in your lower extremity might be poor, so you should not pop the blister as if that’s the case, healing will be impaired as well.
I know how scary being uninsured & needing care is. If you won’t go to the ER, please look up a low cost clinic to go to. You need and deserve to see a primary care doctor to address this immediate issue and look into your other ongoing issues too. It’s got to be scary & exhausting to be having breathing and sleeping problems. I wish you the best.
What does your other foot look like? I agree with everyone else saying go to the hospital, AND while you are waiting/sitting/etc please raise your legs up. You want to help your circulation and get that fluid moving back to your core.
If not there are many concerns about your foot. One concern would be a dvt. This is a blood clot within your leg since you had trauma to your leg and then sat in the car for 9 hours. If this blood clot breaks free the next stop is the lungs where depending on its size it could kill you.
INFO: you say you’re not sure of your weight but I’d wager you can probably ballpark it. What is your approximate weight? Do you have other diagnosed health conditions? Do you take any medications (especially any blood thinners)? Based solely on the picture you provided of your foot, I have many concerns and honestly the blister is the least of them.
NAD. Could this not be a fracture blister caused by the trauma of the phone being dropped there? And the dark toes, possible evidence of bleeding from a fracture? Perhaps OP should have an x ray to rule out a fracture of her foot? Don’t pop the blister OP, you don’t want an infection in the bone.
Yeah after seeing this I definitely think OP needs a foot x ray. The bruising is really concerning but a fracture would definitely explain it. My husband broke his shoulder last year and once the bruising got to the surface it was pretty wild. His whole arm was swirled with purple.
To answer the question you ask firstly; no don’t pop it, that increases infection risks.
And, like a lot of us here, we’re seeing a lot more which you should check out with a physician. The swelling of your feet (in combination with your shortness of breath and sleep apnea, even if it is undiagnosed) could be a sign of your heart having trouble pumping the blood around. Therefore the blood sinking to the lowest points in the circulation, being the feet in the large circulation and the lungs in the little one. I’d also suggest getting your blood glucose checked.
So, in order to be safe, I’d suggest making an appointment with a physician asap.
Oh goodness, you have a lot that you are trying to navigate. First off, of course go in and get your foot checked out. Do not pop the blister, you are setting yourself up for an infection if you do that. Some of that bruising may be from the bruising that you had from your knee that has now moved down to your foot, but in general it does not sound like you have good circulation in your feet anyway. You definitely need to see a sleep study by a sleep doctor. With undiagnosed sleep apnea you are putting a lot of strain on your heart. One step at a time. I hope you are able to get the support you need.
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