What the Heck are Boils?

You may have noticed a skin growth that looks similar to a pimple, but then it starts to grow bigger and feel more painful. Maybe that growth is a boil, or in medical terms, a furuncle. It’s a bacterial infection of the skin, specifically the hair follicles (hence, folliculitis), that can grow up to the size of a golf ball and looks like an oversized pimple.

How Boils Form
The boil is a deep infection that will look like it has several heads or it could also be a huge pimple with an abscess, which contains pus. They form when the naturally-occurring bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (other bacteria and fungi can also cause boils) enters a hair follicle wall or oil gland when there is an injury to the skin. This bacterium populates the armpits, between the legs, the area between the buttocks, and the nostrils, that’s why most boils also form in these areas. The bacteria will thrive in the hair follicle and that’s when the pus starts to accumulate, and the boil grows bigger within 10 days.

Sometimes a person with boils might experience fever due to the infection of the surrounding tissue called cellulitis. It’s also possible to have more than one boil or to have boils that appear as a group with several heads called carbuncle. These are symptoms of a more serious infection that needs immediate attention.

The boils are not caused by poor hygiene, but boils are also related to other medical conditions such as iron deficiency, anemia, diabetes, eczema, obesity, and immune deficiency. Athletes who share equipment and people who also live in poorly ventilated and tightly-packed areas (such as prisons) are also prone to having boils.

How to Get Rid of Boils
They look disgusting, alright, but before you laugh, you should get them treated to avoid complications such as blood or tissue sepsis, bone/heart/brain/spinal cord infection, abscesses in other organs, and scarring.

Boils are usually treated by drainage or incision and do not need oral medication. But for recurring boils and serious infections, the doctor might prescribe an antibiotic that you need to take for several weeks and an ointment or antiseptic that should be applied on the boils. You will also be advised to observe proper hygiene by using antibacterial or antiseptic soap for a week and to clean the skin with 70% isopropyl alcohol everyday for a week.

If you live with your family, they will also be advised to follow the same cleaning routine to stop the spread of the infection.

Some people will also need special antibiotics such as rifampicin and clindamycin. In severe cases like antibiotic resistance, a culture is recommended.

To prevent the recurrence of the infection, you will need to observe the following practices:

• Reduce weight if you are obese
• Quit or avoid smoking
• Wash your hands thoroughly several times a day
• Bathe everyday
• Avoid sharing of personal items such as towels
• Change your clothes everyday
• Taking iron supplements (if you’re iron-deficient)
• Decrease the sugar in your diet
• Practice proper wound care