A boil is a common, painful infection of a hair follicle and the surrounding skin. It begins as a red lump, then fills with pus as white blood cells rush in to fight the infection.
The white blood cells build up, along with damaged skin, to form pus. Carbuncles develop when more than one hair follicle gets infected. The infection is deeper and more severe than one boil. Anyone can develop a boil, but certain factors can increase your risk.
Over time, a boil will develop a collection of pus in its center. This is known as the core of the boil. Do not attempt to remove the core at home as doing so can cause the infection to worsen or spread to other areas. Boils can go away on their own without medical intervention.
Someone should not attempt to pop a boil at home as the bacteria that cause a boil can spread to other parts of the body. In some cases, this can cause serious complications. A doctor can safely drain a boil.
After several days or weeks, the boil will usually form a whitish head and then burst, allowing the pus to drain away. At this stage some boils may settle slowly without bursting.
Boils may heal on their own after a period of itching and mild pain. More often, they become more painful as pus builds up. Boils usually need to open and drain in order to heal. This most often happens within 2 weeks.
It may take up to a week for the boil to start opening and draining the pus. Keep applying heat, either with a heating pad or compress, for up to 3 days after the boil opens. Keep it clean. As with any infection, you should keep the area clean.
When the boil bursts, cover it with sterile gauze or a dressing. This is to prevent the spread of infection. Afterwards, wash your hands thoroughly using hot water and soap. Never squeeze or pierce a boil because it could spread the infection.
1 Other bacteria and fungus can also cause boils, though. A boil looks like a large acne pimple. It starts as a painful, firm, red lump under the skin. Over the course of several days, it grows larger, softens, and develops a white, pus-filled head.
A painful, red bump that starts out small and can enlarge to more than 2 inches (5 centimeters) Reddish or purplish, swollen skin around the bump. An increase in the size of the bump over a few days as it fills with pus. Development of a yellow-white tip that eventually ruptures and allows the pus to drain out.
The infection causes the skin tissue inside the boil to die, creating a pus-filled hollow space (an abscess). Skin abscesses can develop from boils, but also from other things like infected insect bites or injections with dirty needles. If several boils merge into a larger bump, it's called a carbuncle.
During this time, the boil may erupt, creating painful deep abscesses, or holes. The pus that erupts from the boil can be foul-smelling.
The lump can grow into a painful boil under the skin until it bursts. If the boil gets infected with the bacteria in the skin, it becomes an abscess filled with pus which has an unpleasant odor when it drains.
When a boil first appears, the pus-filled space inside the swollen bump (abscess) hasn't yet fully developed. In this phase, doctors usually recommend applying a warm, moist, antiseptic compress (a cloth pad held in place by a bandage) or a special ointment that draws (pulls) pus out of the boil.
“A wound that's oozing pus definitely means you have a bacterial infection,” said Dr. Brady Didion, a Marshfield Clinic Health System family medicine physician. An incision or wound that's healing well looks slightly red and may seep clear fluid. An infected wound may ooze whitish, yellowish or greenish pus.
The skin surrounding the boil may look swollen and red or purplish. The center of the boil eventually becomes filled with yellow or white pus that you can see just under the skin's surface.
Apply a hot compress for 10 minutes or so, three times daily, to encourage the boil to come to a head. Cover a burst boil with a bandaid. Wash your hands thoroughly to prevent the spread of infection. Use fresh towels every time you wash and dry the infected areas.
Place a warm, wet cloth on the boil for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, four to five times per day. Cover it with a heating pad to provide additional warmth. In about a week, the boil may open on its own. When it does, wash the affected area with soap and water.
Pus Precautions:
Once a boil is opened it will drain pus for 3 to 4 days. Then it will slowly heal up. Cover all draining boils with a clean, dry bandage. Usually, a 4 by 4 inch gauze pad and tape is used.
Most boils drain and heal shortly after appearing. However, large or severe boils may require medical attention and antibiotic treatment. Minor or small boils often resolve on their own with good hygiene and at-home treatments, such as warm compresses.
Boils are superficial infections with a thin layer of skin over fluid. Abscesses are generally larger and deeper with redness and painful swelling over an area filled with pus. Cellulitis is an infection within the skin and the area just beneath it; the skin is red and tender to touch.