Boils Home Remedies

A boil is a skin ifection that appears suddenly as a painful pink or red bump, generally between 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in diameter. The surrounding skin may be red and also swollen. Boils usually form when one or more hair follicles become infected with staph bacteria (staphylococcus aureus). The bacteria, which normally inhabit your skin’s surface, may enter through a cut, scratch, or other break in your skin. Within a few days, the bump fills with pus. It grows larger and more painful, sometimes reaching golf ball size before developing a yellow-white tip that finally ruptures and drains.

Boils usually clear completely in a couple weeks, though it can take a month or more. Small boils generally heal without scarring, but a large boil may leave a scar.

Boils can occur anywhere on your skin, but appear mainly on your face, neck, armpits, buttocks or thighs — hair-bearing areas where you’re most likely to sweat or experience friction.

To avoid spreading infection from a boil and to minimize discomfort, follow these measures:

• Soak the area with a warm washcloth or compress. Do this for at least 10 minutes every few hours. Doing so may help the boil burst and drain much sooner. Use warm salt water (add 1 teaspoon of salt to 1 quart of boiling water and let it cool). Prevent the drained matter from contacting other areas of skin.
• Gently wash the boil two to three times a day with antibacterial soap. Then apply an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment and cover with a bandage.
• Never squeeze or lance a boil. You might spread the infection.
• Wash your hands thoroughly after treating a boil. Also, launder towels, compresses and clothing that have touched the infected area.

Contact your doctor if the infection is located on your spine, groin or face, worsens rapidly or causes severe pain, isn't gone within two weeks, or is accompanied by a fever or reddish lines that radiate out from the boil.