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 ares of the body and is often carried on 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.
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. Most boils simply need to run their course.


8 WAYS TO FOIL BOILS


HEAT IT UP
Apply warm compresses to the boils 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. The way you do this 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. A warm bath or a heating pad will do the trick as well.

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. Picking at the boil and trying to force the infection out only makes it worse.

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. Once the boil rupture, 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.

SKIP THE SOLUTIONS
Avoid over the counter solutions that claim to draw out the fluid. These preparations only tend to further irritate the skin. Drawing ointment are meant to irritate the boil, causing it to form pus at a faster rate than it normally would. The pus accumulation then increase the pressure inside the boil and causes it to burst and eventually drain on its own. But the increase pressure created by these ointments also forces the pus and bacteria down deeper into the skin and possibly into the bloodstream.

USE AN ANTIBACTERAIL SOAP OR SOLUTION
If you’re especially prone to boils, wash your skin with one of these solutions regularly. Betadine solution and deodorant soaps have antibacterial in them and work rather well. These soaps and solutions are available without a prescription.

CHOOSE MOISETURIZER WITH CARE
Avoild 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 looser-fitting garments whenever you’ve had a boil before.