How To Treat, Prevent Boils And Carbuncles.
Boils and Carbuncles
A boil is a tender swelling in the skin surrounded by a large red area, usually painful. A carbuncle is a group of boils close together, which may later form one very large boil with several openings to the surface.
Boils can occur in any part of your body on your skin but usually appear mainly on the face, back of the neck, armpits, thighs, and buttocks.
They are particularly painful in those areas where the skin is closely attached to the underlying tissues, such as on the nose, ears, and fingers.
With progression the bumps quickly fill with pus, growing larger and more painful until they rupture and drain.
Boils are more likely to occur in healthy young adults and teenagers.
Boils and carbuncles are not only painful, but they may also indicate the presence of some underlying serious condition, such as diabetes.
Other predisposing conditions that may lead to boils and carbuncles include acne, eczema.
A weakened immune system makes you more susceptible to boils and carbuncles and when to expose to staphylococcus germs.
Boils and Carbuncles seem to occur more frequently in men, usually at the back of the neck near the hairline. Staphylococcus germs are usually the cause of boils and carbuncles.
Although the condition may seem to clear up readily, it may return after the original boil has healed. The pus discharged from the boil is highly infectious.
In caring for a single or minor boil at home. Avoid trying to scratch, prick or squeeze the boil. These may end up spreading the infection to other parts of the body.
Therefore great care should be taken to prevent the infection from spreading to other parts of the skin.
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How to Prevent Boils and Carbuncles
People with diabetes and weakened immune systems are more susceptible to boils and carbuncles.
There are a number of measures you can take to help prevent boil and carbuncles:
- Cultivate the habit of washing your hands regularly with mild soap or use a good hand sanitizer.
- Wounds should be properly treated and covered with sterile, dry bandages until properly healed.
- Work on your diet avoid sugary foods
- Excessive heat and sweating should be avoided, and also work on your weight if you are overweight.
- In order to avoid the spread of staph germs and infections avoid sharing personal items. Don’t share towels, sheets, razors, clothing, athletic equipment, and other personal items.
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Small boils may subside and go without any treatment. You can apply warm moist compressors three or four times a day over the tender area.
This will help to bring the boil to a head and encourage easy drainage.
You may need to call your doctor whenever you have a carbuncle, a large boil, or a boil that doesn’t improve after a week of warm compress treatment as described above.
The surrounding skin should be protected by applying an ointment containing neomycin and bacitracin.
Large boils may need to be opened under local anesthesia, the most suitable being ethyl chloride spray. In most cases, the doctor will drain the infected area through a small incision.
Appropriate antibiotics should be prescribed and administered under the supervision of your personal physician.
Large areas of surrounding skin should be bathed with the liquid green soap solution and then washed off thoroughly.
After drying, apply by rubbing alcohol for five minutes to prevent germs from further spreading the infection to other parts of the skin.
Very large carbuncles are best treated in hospitals.
Note that all patients with boils should be tested for diabetes to be sure they are free from it, especially if there is a family history of this disease.