Getting Rid of that Boil

Boils are basically a skin cyst that has become infected.  If you see a red bump, don’t mess with it…this could be a cyst.  If you mess with it and it becomes infected, then you will have a very painful pus-filled boil to deal with.  But what if you all ready have a boil?  How can you treat it…naturally…The best thing for a boil is for it to come to a head.  This means that the pus will come to the top of the boil.  This will help it heal a lot faster.  So heat compresses are the best thing to use to help your boil heal. Boils are not a fast healing item.  It can take several days for the boil to break and heal.

As soon as you see the cyst/boil, you will want to put warm washcloth (as hot as you can stand it) over the infected area.  Hold the washcloth there for 20 – 30 minutes. Make sure you reheat the washcloth several times during this span of time.  You want to keep the boil warm.

If your boil has come to a head and you see no sign of infection (heat around the boil, red vains, etc around the boil) then you can squeeze/pop the boil yourself.  First, you will want to take a needle and either soak it in rubbing alcohol, peroxide or heat the tip with a flame (match or candle).  Once the needle is sanitized you will want to stick it into the tip of the boil (the white area).  This will give the pus a way to escape.  Remove the needle and then squeeze.   This can be very painful and take awhile.  Keep putting warm compresses on the boil to keep drawing that pus out of the boil.

Once if pops (or even if you can’t get it to pop at this time) you will want to clean the area and put some antibiotic ointment (Neosporin) on the area.

It is best to take a shower and not a bath when you have tried to pop your boil.  This way it does not spread any of the infection to other parts of your body. You also want to make sure that you clean the area around the boil and keep it clean.  Put a bandage on when wearing tighter clothing.  This will help for two reasons…it will keep the open area clean and it will keep the boil pus from ruining your clothing.

If you are prone to getting boils, then you might want to keep that area clean.  Using an antiseptic cleanser (Betadine) will help prevent them from returning.

Kitchen Cures for boils include:

• Heat a raw onion slice and wrap in a thin cloth.
• Use a hot, wet tea bag.  A tea bag from black tea is the best.
• Mashed and heated garlic in a thin cloth.

Use these as you would your warm washcloth.