Treatment For a Boil – Is Heat Application Helpful?

Boils are induced by bacterial infections and may most frequently come about at a hair follicle. They arise in areas that are prone to sweat and friction, such as the armpits and buttocks. The good thing, however, is that just about all simple boils can be taken care of at home. There typically is no need to go to a doctor to get it treated.

They tend to occur where there are germ-friendly conditions: warm, damp areas that are susceptible to friction. This combination helps germs travel down the hair follicle into the shaft, where it takes root.

For the first few days after an infection, you may notice the area getting hard, red, and swollen. Once the infection sets in in earnest, the area starts to swell, filling with pus as white blood cells approach the area to fight the infection, and then die. The dead cells, bacteria, and fluid all collect at the top of the boil, creating a head on the top of it.

Antibiotics are frequently used to assist in caring for possible related bacterial infection. Whenever there may be an infection of the encompassing skin, a doctor may frequently prescribe antibiotics, however, these are generally not required in the majority of situations. Most cases may only require a topical bactericide emollient be used. There are also many very effective homeopathic boil remedies on the market that can fend off a boil from the start.

What to Do
1. Immediately upon the appearance of a pimple which appears severe enough to develop into a boil – if it is not deep-seated ad has a small yellow spot in the center – dip the point of a needle into tincture of iodine or carbolic acid and open the pimple by thrusting the needle sideways through the yellow spot and lifting the needle. Do not press or squeeze. Wipe off the small amount of pus with a bit of sterile gauze or absorbent cotton. Apply 2 percent tincture of iodine to and around the opened pimple at once. This may abort the boil.

2. If the pimple is deep-seated, or if it does not have a definite yellow center, do not attempt to open it, but paint it and the surrounding skin twice a day with 2 percent tincture of iodine. Let the solution dry on the skin and apply no dressing of any kind for one hour. This will help to protect the surrounding skin from infection.

3. After the skin has been left dry for an hour, apply dressings of several layers of gauze kept wet with a warm saturated solution of Epsom salts on a repeat schedule of two hours on and one hour off. The dressings may be covered with waxed paper, oiled silk, or plastic to prevent their drying out. It is helpful to keep them warm by covering with a hot-water bottle with a layer or two of Turkish toweling between dressing and bottle.

4. The pain of the boil will be considerably relieved if the treatment outline in (2) and (3) is followed, and the boil will probably come to a head and break within a few days. If instrumental opening becomes necessary, it is better to have a physician do it.

5. Penicillin injections and sulfadiazine by mouth are recommended for a carbuncle or a severe boil. The use of these requires the supervision of a physician.

6. It is wise to keep a wide area of skin surrounding the boil disinfected by frequent application of rubbing alcohol or mild tincture of iodine, as described in (2), to prevent the germs in the pus from getting a foothold in the skin and starting new boils.

7. A “run of boils” should always lead to consultation with a physician. If diabetes is a factor, it must be treated. It may be advisable to build up resistance to the special strain of staphylococcus germ causing the boils by giving a course of injections of “autogenous vaccine,” which the physician can have made. Frequent changes of clothing, alcohol sponging, and frequent baths are also important.
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