How can i isolate one layer in photoshop and edit it without having all the other layers around?

ive tried the atl+click visible icon already. it does a good job at hiding all the other layers, but sometimes i accidentally show another layer, and bam there goes all the hidden/visible data, meaning i have over 100 hidden layers and i have no idea which of them should be hidden and which should be visible, so it effectively ruins my whole scene..

Sounds like you should be using Layer Comps.

1. Go to Windows | Layer Comps to open the panel.
2. Hide/show the layers you want for a particular scene.
3. Make a new layer comp with Visibility checked.
4. repeat steps 2-3, until you have all the comps you need.
5. If you add/remove layers use the Update Layer Comp button.

well i was more thinking of being able to choose any layer i wish and isolating it.. i mean i dont want to create a comp for every layer i have

I'll need a little more info then. How do you "accidentally show another layer"?
If another layer becomes visible just alt-click the visible icon on your target layer again.

But I may not be understanding your problem thoroughly.

Create only a comp for the initial state then, which you could revert to if you show a layer by mistake.