Boils - Treatment for Curing Boils

Yesterday you noticed a slight redness on your arm, but thought you had simply bumped it against something. Today, the red spot has turned into a painful, red, swollen lump that looks and feels awful. Chances are, what you’re looking at is a boil.

“Most boils occur when a hair follicle is infected with staphylococcus, a bacteria that is present in many areas of the body and is often carried on the skin,” says Vincent A. DeLeo, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia­Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. “The size of the boil depends on the depth of the infection, or the depth of the infected hair follicle. The deeper the infection, the larger the boil,” he continues. A small, more superficial boil looks like a little pimple on the surface of the skin.

Boils can occur on any part of the body that has hair follicles, which would exclude the lips, palms, and soles of the feet. Boils are more common in men than in women and tend to occur most often on the neck, waist, buttocks, and thighs.

Most boils are caused by some sort of trauma to the hair follicle, which allows staph bacteria to set up shop. “This could mean using a greasy ointment on your skin that blocks the follicle or wearing tight clothing that rubs against the hair follicle,” explains DeLeo. But he goes on to say that some people are simply staph carriers and are more prone to develop staph infections in the hair follicles.

Unfortunately, there is not too much you can do to treat a boil once it appears. “The treatment for a boil is drainage, so if you can get it to drain on its own, you probably won’t need antibiotics,” says Denise Kraft, M.D., a family practitioner in Bellevue, Washington, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Most boils simply need to run their course. What you can do is try to speed this process up a bit. Here are some suggestions:

Heat it up. Apply warm compresses to the boil a few times a day. “This home remedy is designed to help the boil come to a head and open up or be absorbed internally,” says Neil Schultz, M.D., a dermatologist in private practice in New York. “The way you do this is to run a washcloth under warm (not hot) water and put it on the area for five minutes, three to four times a day. The heat increases the blood supply in the area, which better enables the body to deal with the toxins and clean out the infection,” explains Schultz. “A warm bath or a heating pad will do the trick as well,” says Kraft.

Don’t burst the bubble. If the boil comes to a head, resist the urge to break it open yourself, especially if it is located on your nose or cheek. “If it’s coming to a head, you don’t have to poke it with anything. You just keep soaking it in warmth, and it will spontaneously drain,” says Kraft. “Picking at the boil and trying to force the infection out only makes it worse,” adds DeLeo.
Give it a gentle squeeze. When the boil does finally rupture, squeeze it gently to get the remaining pus out. “Don’t force it-just sort of help it along by milking it a little bit,” says Schultz. Once the boil ruptures, it usually dries up and goes away in a couple of days.

Cover it up. Put a bandage over the boil once it ruptures. “This will keep the draining fluid from getting all over your clothes and will also protect the opening from becoming reinfected,” says Schultz.

Skip the solutions. Avoid over-the-counter solutions that claim to draw out the fluid. “These preparations only tend to further irritate the skin,” warns DeLeo. Drawing ointments are meant to irritate the boil, causing it to form pus at a faster rate than it normally would. The pus accumulation then increases the pressure inside the boil and causes it to burst and eventually drain on its own. But the increased pressure created by these ointments also forces the pus and bacteria down deeper into the skin and possibly into the bloodstream. Once these bacteria get into the blood, they can infect any organ of the body. Topical antibiotics are also ineffective against boils because the infection is already too deep,
according to DeLeo.

Use an antibacterial soap or solution. “If you’re especially prone to boils, wash your skin with one of these solutions regularly,” recommends DeLeo. “Betadine solution and deodorant soaps have antibacterials in them and work rather well,” he says. According to Kraft, “pHisoDerm cleanser also works well.” These soaps and solutions are available without a prescription.

Choose moisturizers with care. Avoid oil-based moisturizers, which have a tendency to clog the hair follicles and leave them prone to infection.

Loosen your collar. Tight-fitting clothing can rub against and irritate hair follicles, increasing the chance that a boil will develop. Opt for looser­fitting garments whenever possible, especially on areas where you’ve had a boil before.

Tagged under:  boil, boil remedies, boil treatment, infected hair follicle, skin boils Skin Disorders

Filed under: Skin Disorders