Home Remedies for Boils: What Works and What to Avoid

Comfrey -- Important Remedy for Staph Infections!

Posted by Lisa Allen (Chandler, AZ) on 12/10/2007
★★★★★

Just thought you might like to hear about another amazing property of comfrey, one that I was surprised to see not mentioned among your cures and treatments for staph infections. Comfrey has been shown to be able to burst the cell walls of varius types of staph bacteria. It only takes about 10 minutes of exposure to a comfrey infusion, used as a compress to start killing staph by causing the cell walls to weaken and fail. I had read about this in an article some 15 years ago, and had the opportunity to pass this on not long afterwards to a friend who's husband was near to losing his leg to a staphlococcus infection. He had diabetes, which made the situation worse. My friend, a lady by the name of Colleen who worked at the local health food store started immediately bathing and wrapping her husband's leg in comfrey tea compresses. The next time I saw her, she told me his leg had healed up in a matter of two weeks, much to their doctor's surprise. With all the drug resistant varieties of staph going around, your readers might want to know about this godsend property of comfrey! Please pass it on!

Tomato

Posted by DEBRA (OCALA, FLORIDA) on 09/20/2007
★★★★★

I went on your web site yesterday, i have had boils my whole life, like other people on this website, i was willing to try anything, i ran across using a tomatoe,the person who suggested it got them in the same area (thighs and around that area) i thought what the heck within 1 hour of completing the process with each half, i got a shower and it opened, i thought holy crap it really does work, so for 59 cents you can have relief, thanks again margarita form madrid spain.

Ice Cubes

Posted by Megan (St. Louis, MO) on 09/04/2007
★★★★★

I have always gotten boils since I was young. I recently came across some information regarding them and a simply cure that I tried. Putting a whole ice cube on the boil 3 to 4 times a day and waiting until it completely melts will kill the boil. The information I came across said that boils need heat to grow and that the ice cubes stop them in their tracks. When you put the ice cube on it has a burning sensation and after 3 or 4 days the boil went completely away that I had. Just thought I'd share. An inexpensive remedy.

Laundry Soap and Sugar

Posted by Stephanie (Salt lake City, Utah) on 05/27/2008

The yellow laundry bar you refer to is called PHELS-NAPTHA and it has been around since the begining of time (well, maybe not quite that long). They carry it at a local grocery store here where I live, but I am sure you can probably get it online. Besides being good for boils, it will take just about every stain out of your clothes.

Drawing Salve

Posted by Jennifer (Raleigh, NC) on 12/21/2006
★★★★★

The drawing salve was hard to find, but the pharmacist pointed me to it. Just put some on a gauze pad & tape it on the boil. It is pretty messy stuff, so don't wear anything light or use sheets that you love. Of course use new towels every time you wash, make sure you wash your hands after you change your dressings. Also dabbing some camphophenqiue was not only soothing but helped it drain as well. Hot compresses or a heating pad are most important. I also took a hot bath with Dead Sea Salts & Epsom salts (this last bout I had was pretty horrendous, hence all my remedies).

Honey

Posted by Jen (Bedford, NH) on 11/13/2006
★★★★★

After several months dealing with a painful abscess on my bottom, I was desperate. I'd had it opened and drained by a surgeon, and had to have it packed every day for weeks. I took antibiotics, which gave me a massive allergic reaction. It was not healing. Finally the opening the surgeon had made became too small to insert the packing gauze, and I just set a gauze square on the outside. It flared up again almost immediately. While looking for any alternative to "modern" medicine, I first tried a sliced red beet. It did seem to draw out some pus, but it was still not healing. Then, I read a large study that had been posted on the internet dealing with the curative effects of honey vs. standard medical therapies. The results were so dramatic, I had to try it. within five days, the abscess has fully drained! No more pus is coming out, it has NOT swollen up again, and doesn't hurt anymore. I used organic honey on a gauze square, and will continue to do so until it is fully closed and healed. I am also going to start trying it internally for acid reflux (just diagnosed), as I cannot take the prescribed pills (excruciating abdominal/colon spasms!). Thanks for a wonderful website!

Salt

Posted by Tammy (Wellston, OK) on 11/09/2006
★★★★★

Last year I had a spider bite on my inner thigh. At first it was just a small red bump, but then it grew into what looked like a ring worm. A week later it was the size of a tennis ball and the center of it was a infectious white and itchyyyy as poison ivy. I showed it to my family in India via web cam, she knew immediately what to do. Said just wet it, pour table salt on it and let it sit for at least 20 min. After about one minute it began to burn some, nothing unbearable, although i only let it stand for about 5 min as I'm a big baby. It WORKED!! Dried it up in a matter of days. Since then, I have done this remedy for a number different insect bites, even have done on poison ivy and same result. A few days of doing this once at night cleared it. You can literally feel the salt drawing out the poisons.

Baking Soda

Posted by Julie (White Oak, NC) on 09/02/2007
★★★★★

Thank you Gabi from Jax, FL. I had a boil to come up on my buttock 4 days ago. Today is Sunday and I was ready to get come relief. It was Labor Day week-end and I could not wait three more days to go to the doctor. I did a home remedies for boils search and found this website. I first tried the oatmeal and salt remedy for two hours, but nothing happened. I decided that I was going to try a different remedy every two hours until I got one that worked. Next I tried the grated potatoes, but again nothing happened.

I tried the baking soda, lemon and Vitamin E and within two hours, I was getting relief and the boil had opened up and started to drain.

I also drink the two cups of hot water mixed with one tablespoon of vinegar and one tablespoon of honey. Thanks. This is what I will try from this day forward and will pass it along to others.

Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey

Posted by Ivana (Lagos, Nigeria) on 12/16/2025
★★★★★

When my son had a boil, what seemed to help the most was swabbing the boil with apple cider vinegar (ACV) and then applying honey. I spread a layer of the honey on a light piece of cotton wool and stuck it on to the boil. You could also use a plaster to hold the cotton in place. This treatment caused the boil to quickly come to a head and start to drain. I continued the honey after it drained and became an open wound. Using ACV at that point was painful, so discontinued it, but the honey seemed to continue to help the healing process.

I tried other things like a baking soda paste (stung and didn't help as much as ACV/honey). A little dab of silver gel also seemed to help, but it just dried up the other boils I applied it to without draining. Not sure that was a good thing.

Nutmeg

Posted by mmsg (somewhere, europe) on 07/19/2021

Ronda, could there be something that is causing the boils? A food that your body can't handle?

Multiple Remedies

Posted by Khadijahsfarmer (Pennsylvania) on 06/27/2018
★★★★★

ðŸŒ» I have seen better results with taking the turmeric, ACV regularly and will let them come to a head instead of having them lanced as I have learned here, thanks all praise due to GOD. Smile, it's an act of charity.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by Vera (Boca Raton, Fl) on 09/15/2017
★★★★★

A 100% cure for boils.

Apply 27% hydrogen peroxide with a q-tip. Rub into the skin so the skin begins to burn a little, and turns white. Keep doing, even several times a day, until a crust forms. Wait a few days, then poke off the middle of the boil -- there will be a "cone" (like in a volcano) of hardened pus.

Keep applying the peroxide until the whole boil is gone. There will be no scar, and no leftovers causing problems later. Mine was an inch across, I waited too long, and it's taken over a month of treatments. Simple and effective. (Pool stores carry 27% peroxide as "shock".)

Raw Potato, H2O2

Posted by Bebe (Elkhart, In) on 02/08/2016
★★★★★

Raw potato diced up or shredded up, raw only, will pull out the infection, then use hydrogen peroxide to finish pulling out any leftover infection for that week, you will heal, my grandsons boil on his butt was very big and sore I put on the raw shredded up potato into a gauze and taped around the edges so the gauze would breathe, overnight the shredded potato pulled out the core, he felt it hurt at that point, then I checked it the next day and the potato was blackened afterwards, I then proceeded with hydrogen peroxide to keep it cleaned and it healed.

Then my husband had 4 toes on his foot that would not heal, so I did the raw shredded potato again with a big gauze to cover them overnight, then the next day the shredded potatoes in the gauze was black, so I took it off and cleaned with hydrogen peroxide, he healed in two weeks, just keep putting the peroxide on it til it healed up well, the first day I did this the potatoes had pulled out puss and it looked awful, I just cleaned it with the hydrogen peroxide and it healed, every day for two weeks was sufficient.

Copper, ACV, Sea Salt

Posted by Sanjoo (Ahmedabad) on 01/12/2014 7 posts
★★★★★

Copper for Boils:

Recently had a boil on my left elbow. eventually pus started oozing out. I started by putting 1 tsp ACV in a small copper dish, added some salt & a little baking soda, little charcoal, then some oil, (mostly sunflower / sesame oil), or sometimes just aloe vera gel in place of oil to avoid feeling oily, and applied this on the boil (used a gauge pad & bandage).

Two days later, the boil had started drying up, & no longer required bandaging. I continued to apply the above mix, without charcoal, but with a little mg oil, for the next few days, on the skin around the boil, till it completely healed.

It would also make sense to keep some water stored (12 hours or more) in a copper jar with about 1/4th cup ACV & 1 tsp sea salt added, ready for use for cleaning boils. Copper, Apple Cider Vinegar & sea salt all act like antibiotic. I generally transfer this solution to a spray bottle before use. This avoids spread of infection around the boil to other areas of skin.

During the healing phase, it often starts to itch around the boil, & you need to scratch. I used the edge of a copper spoon, with the above mix applied on skin, to scratch, & the itching stops almost instantaneously.

Rubbing Alcohol

Posted by Kitty (North Carolina) on 03/28/2016
★★★★★

You're right. The cotton ball soaked in alcohol and bandaged has worked for me several times also.

Drawing Salve

Posted by Eaglez (Waldwick, Nj) on 09/09/2012
★★★★★

Here is a home-made remedy that I have used for many years to draw out foreign objects from a body including the spores from poison ivy, metal and glass shards, splinters of all kinds and even infectionous erruptions on the skin. It works. Its simple to make and easy to apply without a mess.

Get yourself a bar of 'brown soap' from Walmart, Walgreens or your supermarket. I have two brands that I have stocked up on: Octagen and Felsnappa. Either will work just fine. Now, place a small plastic bag flat and un-opened on a table. Place the bar of soap on the plastic. Take a butter knife and begin to shave off thin slices of the soap onto the plastic. If the bar of soap you are using has been around for awhile it may be a little dry and will slice off harder than a freshly unwrapped bar of soap. Either will work just fine. Okay, when you have an amount that will cover the intended area of concern remove the bar of soap and then, using your fingers, mush the scrapped pieces of soap together making something that resembles an upside cone or pyramid. Now get some household white sugar and, using a spoon, make a pile of sugar next to the shaved soap. Add enough white sugar so that it is about the same size as the soap. When done simply mush together the soap and the sugar with your fingers. Now you need to add water, a drop or two at a time to make a paste that is not runny or too think and lumpy. Be careful not to add too much water as it will render the paste to a watery mass and become difficult to work with when applying it. When the paste is tacky to the touch, or close to it, apply it to the area(s) of your concern. I use the plastic bag that I mixed the soap and sugar on as a cover to which I also apply some thin padding such as a piece of inexpensize gauze. If you are out in the woods or away from civilization use your best guess as to what to use that would cover the mixture and hold it in place for about twelve hours. About twelve hours after applying this mixture you can take it off and make another application if needed. I've used this to draw out pieces of rust from a terribly corroded nail, pieces of glass, snips of wire and gravel (sliding on a road surface after a fall from a bike). It works well. Someimes a second or even a third application will be needed to do the job - it definitely works. Hope this helps someone.

Homeopathics

Posted by Rob (Manhattan, Ny) on 09/02/2011

as others have posted here many times... take turmeric and olive leaf extract internally in addition to your other remedies..

Flaxseed Poultice

Posted by Cj (Elk Grove, Ca, Usa) on 05/25/2011
★★★★★

Another remedy for boils if bacon does not work is to make a poultice out of ground flaxseed. Add enough hot water (as hot as you can stand it) to make a slightly soupy paste. Apply to skin and cover with a clean cloth. Allow to dry and then soak it off. The flaxseed causes it to come to a head. We used this when I was a child and suffered from carbuncle outbreaks.

Figs

Posted by William (Fort Lauderdale) on 11/18/2021

Hello Catherine,

You are correct about this, from the true story of King Hezekiah.I have not tried to use figs, however I can only imagine the pain he must have been in, to think he was at death's door. I just had one pop up on my lower back and you do start to feel a little drained, it starts to wear you out. The last time I used warm cloths and it opened the boil up. This time I may give the figs a try since it's on my back.

Thanks for the post.

Boil Treatment Warnings

Posted by Tina (Princeton, New Jersey) on 01/09/2011

Amen to that. Could't have said it better myself, Lisa.

Boil Treatment Warnings

Posted by Maymuse (St Louis, Mo) on 09/08/2011

Dmontg: I too have had recurring boils (which eventually led to a 5-day stint in a hospital), after I allowed a golfball sized boil grow in my neck - turns out, it was in my gland!

The hospital pumped me full of antibiotics and fluids; and warned me that it was MRSA. Ever since, I have had many boils which seem impossible to relieve - most of them have been on my face and neck, with the occasional buttock boil (awful, you can imagine).

I've found that I'm prone to getting these after eating certain foods: just like Elle from Austin TX, cheap chocolate pudding seems to provoke an attack. Also certain nuts, like almonds, seem to be a cause. My menstrual cycle may be an indicator. However, I don't get boils every month...?

Not sure of any other commonalities amongst us with recurring boils, but I have O-negative blood. I had a bad outbreak of shingles, followed by a severe case of mononucleosis a few years later, and was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia about 5 years ago, after suffering years of widespread pain.

I really prefer natural home remedies, and avoid taking prescription medication - especially since my body seems to be resistent to most antibiotics at this point.

Thanks to the generous people shared comments on this site, I've discovered that ACV (apple cider vinegar) and tumeric are essential parts of the diet in order to keep these at bay. I also use tea tree oil, and lavender oil on the site of any boil.

Multiple Remedies

Posted by Joeym (Minneapolis , Mn) on 11/24/2010
★★★★★

I have successfully drained two painful boils/large pimples (one was a MRSA staph boil) by mixing homemade colloidal silver with bentonite clay powder and making a poultice of it between layers of medical gauze. I covered it with breathable medical tape overnight and when I woke up, the boil/pimple had drained to near completion. I also continued the poultice throughout the day, and by evening, it had drained completely. The pus was gone and new skin was showing where the drainage was previously coming out. Between dressings I used hydrogen peroxide to clean the boil and the area surrounding it. In my opinion, this is the best way to drain a boil/large pimple as it doesn't require any pressure or squeezing, which often causes scarring.

The MRSA boil was on my face and was the size of a silver dollar. My doctor told me that I would likely have a large pock-mark or scar on my face. It has been a little over a month, and you can't even see where the boil was. I'm thankful for the internet, as this is how I discovered the Colloidal Silver/Bentonite Clay treatment. I'm just passing along my experience for others. Blessings to you all!

Boil Treatment Warnings

Posted by Elle (Cc, Florida) on 12/20/2011

Recurrance of boils may be an indication of MRSA colonization on the skin and in the nostrils. It is urgent to treat so that it does not spread internally and systemically. The decolonization procedure often recommended includes both of the following measures:

Apply 2% mupirocin ointment generously throughout the inside of both nostrils with a cotton swab twice daily for 10 days and
Bathe with liquid chlorhexidene soap, washing all skin surfaces daily for five days. Daily bathing or showering using an antibacterial agent such as chlorhexidine gluconate is recommended during mupirocin treatment to improve chances of eradication. Alternative treatment with tea tree oil body lotion and shampoo have been shown effective in achieving decolonization, and have the benefit of being less harsh on the skin.

If you do not have medical insurace, go to your county public health service center and tell the doctor or nurse what you want. 2% mupirocin ointment for nasal application. The soaps should be available over the counter without a prescription. Or you can use hydrogen peroxide rinsing all over your body while you are in the shower and your skin is already wet. Do small areas at a time so that the mild burning doesn't overwhelm you. Leave it on a few minutes then rinse, go to next area. Remember ears, feet too, wash your scalp with the tea tree oil skin wash. The MRSA infection is on the skin so don't scratch little scabs that make an open entrance into the body. These are not spider bites like a lot of people think, it is part of the MRSA infection. Put hydrogen peroxide on the little scabs. There may be itching also as a sympton. Use hydrogen peroxide to clean surface areas also, sinks, counters, door knobs. Take copper dietary supplements.

Boil Treatment Warnings

Posted by Realjb (Kihei) on 12/26/2016

I have used the grapefruit seed "gse" brand disinfection lotion and found the best results for what could be MRSA. Although the problem still lingers. The comment is very informative and I agree.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by Ron (Emporia, Kansas) on 05/04/2010
★★★★★

5-04-10, Ben, down at the health food store, was in pain last Tuesday at work and had difficulty walking...he had developed a large boil on the top of his big toe (about the diameter of a mans thumb)...he asked me what I would do...I suggested soaking in H2O2 might help...use the cheap 3% HP...I saw him today and he said he had gotten the 3% HP and soaked his toe in it full strength for about 5 minutes in the evening about 10pm...the next morning he was at work and felt wetness in his shoe...the boil was draining...his pain was relieved and he said now it was all gone (about 4 days later)...so, the HP appears to have caused drainage in about 12 hours...he said he hadn't squeezed the boil or anything at all because he didn't want to aggravate it...the only thing he had done was the HP....I was surprised it worked so well...I know that HP will kill Staph if enough HP is used...the study I saw was a ratio of 500 HP to 1 Staph...I reasoned the only way HP might help him was if he soaked the boil in the HP so enough HP might be absorbed into the boil to have an effect...don't know if it would work for others, but sure did for him...he was very pleased...he now has an internet connection, so I suggested he study up on Turmeric at Earth Clinic so he could keep the staph under control, because, although the HP worked on his toe, he might get boils in areas of the body where it would be difficult to soak the boil for 5 minutes or so (like in an armpit or on the face)...but, topical application might work in those areas by putting on a thick gauze soaked in HP on it and covering with plastic to keep it wet overnight...don't know for sure...might be worth a try.