5 Things You Need to Know About Home Boil Treatments

1. Boy Oh Boil

If there's one thing you can say about boils that's positive, it's that you can treat them at home with some patience and a high threshold for pain. In fact, while you should see a doctor to make sure the boils don't lead to sepsis (infection in the bloodstream), in most cases doctors will simply tell you to treat the boil at home, without prescribing an antibiotic to help you get rid of them.

2. Another Bandage Please

The best way to treat boils is to do all you can to get them to rupture and drain. By far the most effective way of hastening the rupturing of a boil or carbuncle (two or more boils on the same spot) is to apply heat. To do so, boil some water and add a tablespoon of salt to it. Dip a wrap or two gauze bandages into the water and let it heat. Gently apply the gauze to the boil after making sure the bandage is not too hot for you. Hold the bandage on the boil until it cools, then replace it with a fresh bandage.

3. Get Your Vitamins

Since a boil is an infected hair follicle, the best way to treat a case of boils is to do things that boost the immune system. Eating fresh vegetables, sleeping well and taking a multivitamin are excellent ways to get your immune system back online so it can fight the existing boils and prevent new boils from popping up.

4. More Power to the Third Shower

Even before the boil ruptures, you are at pretty high risk of spreading the boils to other parts of your body or other people if you don't approach hygiene correctly. Once the boil ruptures, this risk goes up steeply. To prevent this, you need to shower often with antibiotic soap and change all clothing, linen and towels after one use and wash them immediately (and without other laundry) in hot water. The constant cycle of clean linen and clothes will help your immune system focus on the existing boils instead of fighting new ones spread through poor hygiene.

5. The Power of Herbs

One boil home treatment that has mixed results is the use of various herbs and spices as cleansers and natural antibiotics. Putting some chopped parsley into your gauze bandage can help reduce the staph bacteria that cause boils. Putting the parsley in your food is also a good idea since it's vitamin rich. Turmeric may have some purifying properties so mixing a teaspoon of the spice into a glass of water can have positive effects. Tea leaf oil or soap is also a natural antibiotic that helps to clean and clear the boils.