QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News Service, July 27) – Anyone who had it will tell you that it is really painful and really icky. But there’s no need to worry because boils, known in Filipino as “pigsa“, is easy to treat and prevent.
Beginning as a red, tender area, a boil is a localized infection of the skin. As time passes, it becomes firm, hard and increasingly tender. Then comes the icky part. White blood cells gather at the area of infection to fight it. This collection of white blood cells, bacteria and protein is known as pus.
Home treatment really is one of the most effective way of curing boils. It would be the best for treatment to start as early as soon as the boil was notice to prevent nasty complications.
Heat application is the main component of the home remedy against boils. This is usually done through hot soaks or hot packs. Applying heat 20 minutes at a time, three to four times a day helps to increase the circulation in the area, allowing the white blood cells to arrive at the area earlier and fight the infection.
If the boil is in a place were you usually shave, avoid shaving said area for a while.
The proper time for draining or lancing the boil is when it is already soft and has developed a pustule. Make sure that all pockets of pus has been drained.
Use antibiotic after lancing to disinfect the wound.
(ENS, written by Jay Paul Carlos, with additional research of Lovely Ann Cruz)