What Are Boils? Seven Tips to Get Rid of Them
They can be painful, uncomfortable and dangerous if not handled with care: Boils are annoying to have on the skin and everyone gets them. However, there are ways to prevent them from appearing. Here are some tips to get rid of boils.
“Boils” are known as abscesses in the skin that are caused by an infected hair follicle, which are structures of the skin that grow hair. The affected area becomes inflamed and a painful ball that’s filled with pus and dead cells forms.
As the amount of pus increases, the body will try to find a way to drain it. Eventually, a white or yellowish head will appear in the swollen area just like acne does.
These follicles are likely to become infected, especially in areas with a lot of wet hair and areas that have friction, like the armpits, buttocks, thighs, face, neck, and groin.
Other cases that can cause skin infections are:
- Mosquito Bites
- Friction wounds that are caused by clothing or skin-to-skin contact
- Small shaving cuts
- Scrapes
Why Do Boils Form?
Everyone is prone to injury. Whenever a skin wound is exposed, it’s prone to be infected by bacteria that live on the surface of your skin. Not all skin wounds cause boils because your immune system should be able to fight bacteria before the area gets infected.
A boil doesn’t only affect an infected hair follicle, but also to the tissue around it.
Even though you can follow these tips to get rid of boils, there are certain aspects that can make you more prone to this type of infections. Likewise, you may even get folliculitis, which often develops into multiple abscesses.
Below are some reasons why you might be more likely to get boils:
- Genetic predisposition
- Poor hygiene
- Diabetes
- Kidney failure
- Cirrhosis
- Use of Drugs
- HIV
- Chronic skin diseases
- Obesity
- Advanced age
- Wearing tight clothing
Read this article, too: Natural Cream to Heal Cuts and Scars
Why Do Boils Occur Frequently?
In general, cases of multiple abscesses are the result of the aforementioned causes, or due to insufficient treatment of a former infection.
Thus, one tip to get rid of boils is to wash your clothing, sheets, and blankets with mild soap because they might have been in contact with the affected area. Therefore, if you wash them with this type of soap, you can prevent another infection.
Go see a dermatologist if the inflammation doesn’t naturally go away after 10 days if several boils start to appear or you get a fever. They will be able to drain them and provide you with proper treatment.
Check out this article, too: 5 Reasons to not Skip Your Dermatologist Visit
Seven Tips to Get Rid of Boils
It is possible to get rid of your boils. You just have to start putting some good habits into practice that are good at eliminating and preventing boils. Therefore, start by paying close attention to your skin. Take note!
- If you have a boil, use warm compresses, chamomile tea or basil leaves at least three times a day to reduce the pain and swelling. Make sure the compress is clean and you use a new one each time.
- While you have a boil, bathe daily with antiseptic soap.
- Boils often pop spontaneously after a few days. If this happens to you, clean the area with a sterile gauze, soap, and water, to prevent that the draining pus doesn’t infect other areas of your skin.
- Keep the areas of your skin that have many hairs clean and dry in order to prevent infections.
- Avoid the use of clothing that is too tight or clothing that produces friction in sensitive areas of your body. That way, you can prevent wounds that may turn into boils.
- Don’t pop your boils with your nails. If you do, you can make the infection even worse. Let it drain by itself. If it doesn’t, then you should go see a medical specialist.
- If you’re prone to developing these types of infections – despite following the advice mentioned above – we recommend getting a general checkup to determine which factors are affecting your skin’s health.
Good hygiene and taking of your skin are determining factors for getting rid of boils and preventing them from reappearing. Putting them into practice is another way of caring for your entire body. Therefore, if you prevent these infections, you also protect your blood and organs.
Plus, doing so will allow you to live a more comfortable and less painful life.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Singer, A. J., & Talan, D. A. (2014). Management of Skin Abscesses in the Era of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. New England Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1212788
- Siqueira, J. F., & Rôças, I. N. (2013). Microbiology and treatment of acute apical abscesses. Clinical Microbiology Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00082-12