Boils is the common term for an infection of the hair follicle that happens because of infection with the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. This skin condition can resolve on its own but usually requires treatment to cure it. Lancing and antibiotics are common treatment protocols for this kind of infection.
Boils have a lifecycle that they pass through as the infection causes the boil to grow worse. Early symptoms include:
If the infection is not treated, new symptoms will appear:
If the boil resolves on its own, the site might heal, and a scar might form over the area that was infected. If the infection is bad enough, it can cause a secondary infection in a new area close to the original boil.
This skin condition is caused by Staphylococcus aureus. These bacteria can infect hair follicles, which leads to a lump on the skin that is painful and requires medical attention. The risk factors for developing boils are:
Those who have ongoing medical conditions that weaken the immune system can be much more prone to skin infections of various kinds. Boils are quite common in these patients because the healthy barrier against bacteria is not maintained well by the immune system in these patients.
Boils are usually easy to diagnose just through visual inspection. If there is a question about which kind of bacteria is causing the boil, skin samples or swabs of skin serum or pus can be taken from the boil to be looked at by the lab. Most doctors will treat a boil without doing any tests since the appearance of this skin condition is so easy to recognize.
The most common treatment for boils is to lance them. The patient is then given antibiotics to take until the boil has healed and scarred over. Patients must take all of the antibiotics and be sure to keep the wound from the lancing clean and dry until it has closed up. Boils are often lanced to prevent infection from spreading to the bloodstream and causing severe secondary health issues. In some cases, mild boils might be resolved with just oral antibiotics.
Prevention of boils can be hard if you have underlying health conditions that impact your immune system health. However, keeping the skin clean and being sure to wash your bedding and towels frequently can be a big help in preventing this skin issue. Be sure that you protect wounds in the skin and keep them dry and also be sure that you wash your hands after handling soil in the yard or after touching items that might be unsanitary.
You should also avoid tight-fitting clothing and wash areas of the skin with warm and soapy water to avoid infection. These areas are the groin, buttocks, armpits, face, and neck. Home treatment can sometimes be sufficient to ward off boils but often fails to resolve a boil once it has shown up.