BOILS AND ABSCESS - HOME REMEDIES

BOILS AND ABSCESS - HOME REMEDIES

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A "boil" also called as furuncle is a red, painful, raised area of the skin surrounded by swollen inflamed tissue, usually the result of bacteria (especially staphylococcus variety) that invade through a microscopic break in the skin and infect a blocked sweat gland or hair follicle. When the white blood cells fight against the infection, the dead cells and killed bacteria accumulate as pus and lead to the formation of a localized collection of pus in the skin, which is called as an "abscess".

To bring a developing boil to a head, apply warm, moist compresses for twenty to thirty minutes, three to four times daily. Keep the skin around the boil or abscess clean. Recurrent boils could be a sign of inadequate diet or an early symptom of diabetes.

In cases where the boil or abscess does not resolve or is very slow to heal or if the person suffers from diabetes or a deficient immune system, a physician should be consulted to prevent any further complications.

HOME REMEDIES 
1. The person should be put on a diet consisting of fresh juicy fruits, whole grain cereals and raw vegetables. Avoid tea, coffee, white bread and starchy and sugary foods.

2. A few drinks of lemon juice taken daily will purify the blood and help to fasten the healing process.

3. Taking a clove of garlic daily acts as an effective antiseptic and helps to detoxify the body. Also the juice of garlic or onion may be applied externally on the boils to help ripen them, break them and evacuate the pus.

4. Heat the mixture of turmeric (haldi) powder, jaggery and wheat flour and then apply it to the boils when warm to speed up the healing process.

5. Eating a lot of oranges and grapefruit (chakotra) daily helps faster healing of the boil.

6. Sandalwood paste has got astringent and anti-inflammatory properties and also has got a refrigerating or a cooling effect on the skin. So it is a useful application over the boils.

7. Apply plain honey or mix it with an equal amount of cod liver oil and apply it directly over the boil and cover it with a sterile dressing.

8. Applying pieces of stale bread soaked in hot milk on the boil or a poultice of warm milk and flour with a tablespoon salt added to it is a useful remedy.

9. One teaspoonful of cream of milk, mixed with half a teaspoonful of vinegar and a pinch of turmeric powder, makes an excellent poultice. It helps in ripening the blood boils and in healing them without allowing them to become septic.

10. Drink a cupful of milk in which some figs (anjeer) are boiled for a few minutes and give it warm to the patient. Also placing a raw fig as a poultice helps to ripen it.

11. Boil parsley in water till it is soft and juicy and when it is comfortably hot, it should be wrapped in a clean muslin or linen clothe and applied over the boil as a poultice.

12. Drink a mixture made from one-third teaspoonful of freshly ground nutmeg (jaiphal), one teaspoonful honey and four to five ounces of hot water daily for five days continuously.

13. Cumin seeds (jeera) are ground in water and made into a paste and applied over the boils. Also in cases of small children suffering from summer boils, a fine powder of cumin mixed in coconut milk is useful.

14. A simple method to quicken the ripening of a boil in any part of the body is to apply a mixture of ash heated with melted butter or ghee. Ash, which is chemically soda potash, acts as an astringent to drain out the purulent matter from inside the boil. Warm ghee softens the top layer of the epithelial cells of the skin.

15. Lightly steamed cabbage leaves or tomato slices act as a useful poultice for the boil.

16. Scrape the inside of the ripe banana peel and spread it on a cloth and bandage the abscess or boil.

17. Applying mashed raw potato over the abscess also helps.