The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Laundry Soap and Sugar
Posted by Bill (Bloomfield, New Mexico) on 08/21/2007
★★★★★
This remedy was used on me by my grandmother when I was a teenager. It never failed to work! The ingredients: yellow laundry bar soap and granulated sugar. She would apply the soap and sugar to a gauze pad, wrap it over the boil at night. The boil had excreted its contents by morning! It is not easy to find yellow bar soap. I don't know about the effectiveness of any other bar soap, but experimentation is certainly worth a try.
Oregano Oil
Posted by DeAnn (Lubbock, TX) on 07/04/2007
★★★★★
I considered myself a healthy 54 until december of 06, when I got a cut on my figure that woudl not heal. After finally healing I got the first of three boils on the buttock area. Two of which had to be lanced in the hospital. of course the Dr. prescribed cipro, lixapro, etc, you name it. When the third one appeared I used oil of oregano on a round band aid for a week change it often and it went away. I am currently taking oil of oregano in pill form everyday and drinking green tea and doing the apple cider vinegar with water and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. I have been boil free. I should also mention that when I had to have the first boil lanced, the Dr. mention I was the third person that day that he had done the same procedure.
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Posted by Kathy (Mitchell, NE) on 04/27/2007
★★★★★
Please try grapefruit seed extract. use in your juice internally. Use it in your dishwater for washing dishes and in your cleaning bucket for cleaning. Any questions please feel free to email me.
Iodine
Posted by Frances (Gainesville, FL) on 04/25/2007
★★★★★
I got my first boil ever recently. At first I had no idea what it was, but it rapidly increased in size and pain, began to itch around the edges and turned very red. My mother (a nurse) told me it was a boil on Sunday and to "leave it alone" (I have a bad habit of picking at wounds, etc.). Through the night, this became one of the most painful things I had ever experienced. The next day, Monday, everything I did was a royal pain - getting in and out of my car, sitting down in a chair, even walking - because the boil was on my lower back, just above my rear-end and a few inches to the right of my spine. I knew I had to do something or I would lose my mind, so I started researching remedies, and I came across your site. Monday night, I went home, took a long, hot, epsom salt bath/soak, and then swabbed the entire area with iodine. The next morning, I cleaned the area, then swabbed it with more iodine. This seemed to reduce the pain slightly and the itching more. Partway through the day, it started getting a little more sensitive, so I figured I'd try it again. I went to the bathroom at work and cleaned it up and put some more iodine on it, making sure to spend a good deal of time just resting the iodine swab on the scabbed area of the boil. Through the rest of the day, the pain did not seem to diminish, so I had decided to try baking soda when I got home. However, before my mom left for work, I asked her if she would please remove the bandage I had put on and check to see if it looked any better. Taking off the bandage was very painful, and I was afraid that it was no better at all. However, I was plesantly surprised to find out that the reason it was painful was because it was DRAINING. Yes, less than 24 hours after starting the iodine, after just 3 treatments, the draining started. It was great. We cleaned it well with some peroxide and put some neosporin on it, then some gause to help soak up the pus. After a while, I did another epsom salt bath/soak and took a shower, where I washed it well with a tea tree oil / aloe vera body wash. Out of the shower, I again cleansed it with peroxide, then put on some more neosporin, one of those non-stick pads, and a bandage to catch the ooze. Hopefully it will all drain out today or tomorrow so that it will just be a distant memory by this weekend. :) Thanks for all of your help!
P.S. I was thinking of trying an oatmeal-and-baking soda combo tonight to see if that makes a core come out.
Silica
Posted by Tamy (Anaheim, CA) on 04/23/2007
★★★★★
hello everyone, i was doing some research on skin boils and came across a site that listed different types of skin boils and what supplements to take for them. if you have recurring boils you might want to try taking silica or silicea goes by two different names but is the same thing. had a recurring boil for over a year that just would not go completely away, have tried numerous remedies, hardly any worked except for the vinegar directly on the boil, but that was temporary i was looking for something to stop it from coming back. surely enough i came across that website and i tried the silica and the boil is almost gone it's been only two weeks and i feel better, bought silica at my local health food store, i was at my wits end with this boil thing, but the silica seems to help like no other. the antibiotics didn't help of course, this just may be it. just thought i'd post it hopefully it will help someone else.
Tea Tree Oil
Posted by Cindy (Payson, AZ) on 03/16/2007
★★★★★
The best cure for any type of infection even moles/skin ticks/ infected staph or other boils that I've tried is TEA TREE OIL. I learned this in India when I traveled there. I had some serious infections that not even antibotics would cure but applying Tea Tree Oil over a few days did the trick. Also pouring proxide as a wash many times a day then treating with Tea Tree Oil does the trick!
Vitamin D
Posted by Julian (Bathurst , NSW Australia) on 03/16/2007
★★★★★
A common factor for most of the boil sufferers is the time of year, late winter when Vit D reserves are at their lowest. Vit D is a necessary part of the immune system. The Vit D Council (Google it) gives free information on doses and some amazing facts on its effectiveness for many ailments. I have used Colorless Iodine for unbroken skin pimples or puncture wounds for years and never get infections, Betadine for scrapes and scratches.Castor oil for sun blemishes, age spots and sun cancers. I work outside, get plenty of those. Used to get boils before I found Colorless Iodine, its getting hard to find (not much profit?) but some chemists will make it up.
Neem Oil
Posted by Mary (Phoenix, AZ) on 02/27/2007
★★★★★
There are two more treatments i have heard used in india for bacterial infections:
1.neem juice. neem or other name is margosa it seems to be king of herbs.
2.holy basil. its called tulsi in india. somewaht related to basil herb in US. but i dont know if the basil herb available in US has same medicinal properties. they both smell similar but they appear different.
Figs
Posted by Joyce (Joelton, Tn) on 06/07/2009 490 posts
Hello Teresa,
Have you ever entertained the possibility that all that make-up you are tossing away may be triggering the acne and boils you are troubled with? The best way to find out is to stop using all cosmetics, probably should leave off all soaps, cleansers, lotions and creams also for a couple of weeks. Good old ACV would be a good cleanser and maybe you might want to try a homemade facial mask or scrub like oatmeal,egg & honey or any similar one you can find on line.
Salt
Posted by Carol (Dora, MS) on 01/11/2007
★★★★★
Husband got what looked like a pimple on his neck. By the next night it had gotten worrisome big. Went to your web site and found the sea salt cure. We dampened a wash cloth, poured some sea salt on it, and he held it on the boil for twenty minutes. It went down in just twenty minutes! We taped a cotton ball soaked in castor oil and dipped in the salt for three nights, and the thing is gone. Thank you so much Carol Ann
Lining of an Egg Shell
Posted by Jim (Olean, NY) on 12/30/2006
★★★★★
egg liner -- brought a boil to a head and at other times it made them go away.
Baking Soda
Posted by Laurie (New Zealand) on 11/26/2006
★★★★★
Baking soda cured a couple of boils before they broke on the skin. I have found that Hyper Cal lotion (hypericum calendula) applied to unbroken boils worked well, but experimented with baking soda. Was rather surprised to see that it worked just as well!! Baby boils are now just red spots.
Tomato
Posted by Cherie (Memphis, TN) on 10/22/2006
★★★★★
Tomato Paste, cover with paste as a compress, the acids from the tomatoes soothe and bring the boil to a head.
Drawing Salve
Posted by Jamie (Lake Worth, Fl) on 05/31/2011
Itchthammol is also know as black drawing slave. I asked my pharmacist for it, it was behind the counter. Itchthammol is the name of the product. I do not think it is a product commonly used anymore, by traditional medicine. It is an old fashioned remedy.
Try an online search if you have no luck finding it.
The address of the company is as follows
Po Box 8250
Ft Lauderdale Fl
33340-8250
Drawing Salve
Posted by Watergirl (Destin, Fl) on 02/18/2012
"PRID" is a great, cheap homeopathic "drawing salve" I found in the USA at Walmart, Drug and Health Stores for @$3.50 (it contains Itchthammmol, Arnica, Calendula, Echinacea, Sulfur, etc); works great to draw out boils in 2-5 days or so.
It comes in a small, round, flat, dark orange tin (the size of a half dollar coin) with tiny instructions on the back (clean area well, smear ointment on boil/bandage; change bandage and reapply 2-3 times a day until boil is drained; continue for a few days afterwards to suck up any remnant germs). The ointment is dark brown and stains dark yellow, so use a bandaid somewhat larger than the application.
BEWARE: Boils should never be squeezed; doing so breaks the protective encasement which causes the infection to spread locally, and worse, into the bloodstream (and across the brain barrier if on/near the head/face)! The body encases boils in 'sacs' because they are so poisionous, so take great care not to damage the sac!
If you cannot wait to treat/drain a boil, it's best to insert a sterile needle down into the center of the boil, remove the needle, then gently PULL the surrounding skin OUTWARDS, while gently pressing DOWN on the surrounding area (the exact opposite of squeezing! ). The downward/outward pressure will push the infection up and out through the drainage hole! If it does not drain (too hard or pus is thick), clean the area and use a drawing salve. Lancing should only be done by doctors/nurses!
Baking Soda
Posted by Adriel (Paso Robles, California) on 11/09/2011
Yeah, I just started getting these boils in the last few months in my groin area and I am using the baking soda to help speed up the process of surfacing with my warm compress. The only time that my boils seemed to get infected or worse is when I squeezed the boils. Even if I got a lot of it out, it never got better fast by squeezing.
Drawing Salve
Posted by Renee (Pepperell Ma) on 05/05/2006
★★★★★
Treat boils right away (don't let the sun set on a boil) The longer you wait, the longer it takes.
2. Wash boil, dry, apply a drawing salve ointment
3. Cover with a cloth band-aid
4. do this twice daily. Drawing Salves are also good for splinters with pus. What it does is thin the skin above the boil and let the boil naturally drain. It is mildly antiseptic too.
Baking Soda
Posted by Anonymous (USA)
★★★★★
I learned this from a make-up artist when I suffered from acne. For boils and large pimples make a paste out of baking soda and water. Pack it on the infected spot and it works to draw the infection.
Baking Soda
Posted by Mustardseed (Bells, Tn) on 06/11/2011
★★★★★
Re: Boils and bleached underwear
I was plagued with boils on my bottom for years. I stoped using bleach when washing underwear (and disposed of all old underwear) and have not had a boil in 3 years. I think chems in bleach stays in the fabric and creates a imbalance with the skin on contact. I rarely use bleach now except to clean counter tops and toilets.
Acidophilus
Posted by Carroll (Middletown, NJ)
★★★★★
If I feel a boil coming on, I take Acidophilus, one a day. The boil never fully comes out. I take it for a couple of days, or a week if I actually have one and it goes completely away. Acidophilus works wonders for boosting the immune system.
Misdiagnosis Alert!
Posted by Chris (Cincinnati, Oh) on 03/06/2013
I know this was written a few years ago but I wanted to point out the fact that intestinal issues and skin issues such as flakiness that involve a history of the person taking multiple and strong antibiotics given over a long period of time, such as you decribed are a direct result of an imbalance of the good/bad bacteria in the intestinal tract. The more antibiotic that is taken, the weaker the good bacteria becomes. This imbalance can lead to other complications such as Crohn's, Celiac, Candida, etc. I would suggest giving your daughter a bentonite or montmorillonite powder to help draw out the impurities in her intestines and to line the walls of the intestines. Also to take a strong probiotic to rebuild the intestinal flora. If you can feed her raw milk, that would be the absolute best way for her to balance her system. Start with a tablespoon and work up to a full glass.
Nutmeg
Posted by Phyllis (FL) on 03/07/2021
Can I put the nutmeg in capsules and would it be as effective that way?
