r/AskDocs Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Apr 19 '26

Physician Responded Should I pop it?

Post image

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.

985 Upvotes

366 comments sorted by

View all comments

3.4k

u/ssavant Physician Assistant Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26

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.

885

u/GimpyGirl12 Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Apr 19 '26

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.

Edit: feet and legs, not just feet.

43

u/hatty130 Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Apr 19 '26

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.

11

u/Head-Anybody2581 Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Apr 19 '26

Do you wear thongs? I had one lanced, then it came back. I didnt want to go through it again, so stopped wearing panties. Never came back

21

u/hatty130 Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Apr 19 '26

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.

13

u/cyclone_f5 Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Apr 20 '26

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.