A boil is an infected hair follicle, in which the infection (usually staphylococcus aureus) has spread to surrounding tissue.

Bottoms and inner thighs are common locations for boils, but they may also grace the face, neck and breasts. A sty is a tiny boil in the eyelash follicle. Naturopaths have historically loved treating boils and carbuncles.

Why Me?

• Hair follicles may become clogged and infected from sweat, vaseline or heavy ointments.
• Poor hygiene.
• Excessive sugar in the bloodstream caused by a high sugar diet or diabetes may also contribute.
• If your immune system is under par, you are more prone to infections, including boils.

What To Do

Diet

• Cut down on fatty and fried foods, alcohol, recreational drugs, red meat, sugar and white flour products.
• Limit yourself to fish, rice, legumes, fruit, vegetables and vegetable juices.
• Eat most of your fruit and vegetables raw.
• Drink three litres of pure water daily.
• Eat three to six cloves of raw garlic daily. Swallow a clove whole, pointy end down first. Take after food. If you think six cloves of garlic sounds radical, so does the boil.
• The juice of half a lemon in hot water before breakfast.

Herbs and Supplements

• (See Glow)
• Traditional blood purifying herbs which work wonderfully well for boils include: echinacea, burdock, fenugreek, calendula, phytolacca (poke root). Drink three cups of herbal tea, made from one or a combination of these herbs each day. (See Glow)
• Take the tissue salt Calc. sulph., three times daily, to ripen the boil to a head. You can also dissolve a Calc. sulph. tablet in hot water for a compress.
• Silicon and Calc. fluor. tissue salts will prevent future boils from forming.
• Take 1-2 g vitamin C, three times daily.

Other Steps

• Wash your hands regularly, and don't touch it!
• Hot compresses will bring the boil to a pointy 'ripe' head so that it can be drained. Apply plain hot water, slippery elm, calc. sulph. or cod liver oil compress for fifteen minutes. Often the boil will burst unaided. Otherwise, prick the head with a sterilised needle (put it in a flame). Press lightly around the boil to drain the pus, then dab with tea tree oil to disinfect. If in doubt, or if the boil is on your face, see your doctor. Don't push and prod, you will only spread the infection.

At a glance

Good food

Raw fruit and vegetables, garlic, water.

Food to avoid

Fried or fatty foods, sugar, white flour products, alcohol, coffee.

Remedies to begin

Vitamin C, hot compress, echinacea, fenugreek, poke root.

Lifestyle

Wash thoroughly once or twice daily. Use a tea tree-based soap.

MindBody

Is there an under-the-surface strong emotion coming to a head?