Cellulitis
Natural Remedies

Cellulitis - Editor's Choice

| Modified on Jun 08, 2025
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Cellulitis is a dangerous, bacterial skin infection that can be treated with home remedies, but must be treated as quickly as possible.  Some of the best home cures for cellulitis are natural antibacterials, such as garlic, colloidal silver and tea tree oil. Look in the Table of Contents on the right hand side of this page to discover many other natural remedies for cellulitis that have been recommended by Earth Clinic readers. One mother describes how she successfully treated her son with a home remedy treatment regimen, including turmeric, black salve and tea tree oil, avoiding antibiotics and hospitalization.

Natural Treatments for Cellulitis

Cellulitis is an aggressive condition that can cause additional complications if left untreated. If the infection appears to be spreading, consult a medical practitioner before it gets into the lymph nodes or bloodstream.  Although this rarely happens, this could result in blood or bone infections or even gangrene.  Fortunately, natural treatments are often effective, especially if the treatment regimen combines both internal and external treatment.

Garlic

Garlic is the favorite home remedy of many because it attacks bacteria, fungi and viruses without killing beneficial gut flora.  Raw garlic is most effective.

  • 3-4 cloves a day for several weeks was the amount that helped some people.  Drinking milk afterward may help to kill the taste and smell if it bothers you.
  • Garlic capsules are widely available but we do not have any information as to how effective they are for cellulitis.

Colloidal Silver and Serrapeptase

Colloidal silver is relied upon by Earth Clinic readers to treat a wide variety of ailments. Colloidal silver can be inhaled, taken internally or used topically. For topical use, mix with 20% DMSO as a solvent and carrier. An interesting article on colloidal silver by Dave Thomas is found here.

One reader reported that she completely healed her leg ulcer, for the first time ever, with colloidal silver and serrapeptase. Here is what she said:

"Have discovered and used both colloidal silver, internally, 2 teaspoons, plus cleaned wounds externally for leg ulcers with colloidal silver spray for no infection successfully. Plus, then I take Serrapeptase around minimum of 80,000 per day. After one month the ulcers were closed, clean, and gone."

Tea Tree Oil

Tea Tree Oil is a powerful antimicrobial that has been used by native Australians for a very long time.  (It has no relationship to the tea we drink.)  Use sparingly as it is potent.

A mother whose 9 year old son developed cellulitis for the second time in a year could not fill an antibiotic prescription until morning, so treated him with tea tree oil instead. She described her treatment regimen as follows:

"My 9 year old son experienced cellulitis for the second time in less than a year as the result of a bug bite (spiders we think). At any rate, unable to get the prescription for an antibiotic filled until the morning, I went to this website. I placed a few drops of tea tree oil onto a cotton swab. I applied it to his very swollen and inflamed leg, along with a water soaked cotton ball (so the tea tree would not burn). I then applied an ice pack and gave him an over the counter anti-inflammatory. By morning, the inflammation was gone, he was able to move his leg with less diffulty and the redness also subsided.  The Tea Tree worked awesome. Because of the severity of his cellulitis I still gave him the antibiotic, but cut the treatment time in half. Going forward, on any bites I will immediately treat with tea tree oil."

What Is Cellulitis?

Cellulitis usually appears on the legs as a painful, red, swollen area that may feel hot to the touch, but can appear elsewhere on the body.  The infection can spread to the lymph nodes and into the blood, becoming life-threatening if left untreated.  In this case, pain can be considered a good warning signal of danger as it forces most people to seek treatment options.

The bacteria that usually cause cellulitis are Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphyloccus aureus.  Typically, surgical sites, cuts, puncture wounds, ulcers, athlete’s foot and dermatitis are the prime locations of bacterial entrance; however, certain types of spider and insect bites can also transfer the bacteria that triggers an infection.

Normally, the skin acts as a barrier, preventing infectious agents from entering our bodies.  When the skin is broken, bacteria are able to enter into the body.  This is one reason why it is always a good idea to keep any wound clean and covered if it breaks the skin.  People with diabetes, a suppressed immune system or at risk of forming blood clots are more prone to cellulitis.

Treating cellulitis as soon as possible is critical to success. Cellulitis can be very stubborn and it seems that the longer the infection has been in the body, the more difficult it is to heal.

Please visit our Q & A section on cellulitis where you may find the answer to a question about cellulitis treatment.  If not, please feel free to ask a question of your own!

Continue reading below for more natural remedies from Earth Clinic readers!  Please let us know what remedies you have used to treat cellulitis and the dosage and any other details that might prove helpful to someone else. Thank you!


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.

Bread and Milk Poultice

Posted by baddiver (Wisconsin) on 05/16/2023
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Bread and Milk Poultice for Cellulitis

I got an infection in my left foot. Didn't realize it was cellulitis at first. Treated with hot compresses, betadine, garlic and honey. It continued to get worse. I then got it in my right foot and found out it was cellulitis. I can't take antibiotics so started searching for ideas. I remembered a poultice that helped with a spider bite that was potato based and searched for poultices. I ran across the bread and milk poultice and it just seemed worth a try. I packed both feet overnight with the bread and milk poultice and saw 80% improvement overnight. The right foot which had just became infected resolved in 2 days. The left foot took about 4 days of the poultice every night but has resolved completely. My wife who is an RN who has treated many patients with cellulitis was amazed at the results. You warm milk up to below scalding then add white bread to make the poultice.


Garlic

Posted by Valerie (Oklahoma City, Ok) on 03/19/2018
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Dog bite & terrible infection wouldn't heal even after 6 days in hospital & on 3 antibiotics by IV.

At home, it took a month still on antibiotics, skin was literally rotting. Each day new rot would form under & around a 1/4 inch humongous scab. Smelled like green rotten meat. Cellulitus/staph arm 3 times swollen.

I minced a couple of cloves of garlic placed it on wound AND OVERNIGHT IT KILLED THE INFECTION NEXT DAY I KEPT PLACING FRESH MINCED GARLIC. KNOCKED IT ALL OUT!!!!!!!

U can place minced FRESH garlic any place on your body, open wound or not. It will absorb thru skin.


Multiple Remedies

Posted by Jerome (New York, Ny) on 08/29/2016 9 posts
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

CELLULITIS: I recently developed cellulitis in my feet and ankles for the second time in my life. The first time my ankles swelled up like an elephant's after my cousin's cat rubbed up against my bare legs and I went to the emergency room (I was only 23). They pumped me full of high dose IV antibiotics and after a few days it went away.

This last time I developed the same problem again 15 years later after rubbing a dog with my bare feet. My ankles again swelled up and I realized it was cellulitis exactly as I had years ago. This time, however, I didn't want to go through with the antibiotics again since the first time they messed up my digestion bad and it never fully recovered. So I tried to go the natural route with oral colloidal silver (1100ppm), GSE, olive leaf, etc. This seemed to keep it from spreading for a few days but it wouldn't heal. Then I got a colloidal silver topical first aid gel which you can buy in any Vitamin Shoppe or major vitamin webseller. I applied it, let it dry for a few hours, rinsed my feet off then applied it again, for a total of about 4x/day. The silver gel combined with the oral stuff reversed the infection on the tops of my feet and shins dramatically, but though it was receding it was very slow and stubborn in my ankles and heels.

So I began researching online again and found a medical paper from a hospital that showed that giving cellulitis patients 400mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours for 10 days together with antibiotics resulted in much faster healing than with antibiotics alone. I had my wife pick up a bottle of ibuprofen at the drug store and began taking it. By that night with the silver gel, oral silver, GSE, olive leaf, myrrh and a few other basic things (vit C, echinacea, etc.), the cellulitis was 80-90% gone. I also took proteolytic enzymes which may have helped too.

After the second full day of the above regimen, including the ibuprofen, the cellulitis was basically healed. Oh and one more crucial thing if you're dealing with cellulitis of the legs or feet: ELEVATE THEM!!! They will not heal if you don't keep them elevated, HIGH! I sat on a lounge chair with my feet high on the wall for almost three days straight. Take breaks and walk around every hour or so but try to keep them elevated for the whole day. Sounds crazy but I was not going to get those IV antibiotics which destroyed my gut again if I could help it.

In sum what I did was this:

  • Oral colloidal silver 1100 ppm, 3 droppers a day
  • Silver gel applied 4-5x a day
  • Oral GSE, olive leaf, myrrh, and some other immune boosting supplements
  • Ibuprofen 400mg every six hours
  • Keep feet elevated

Jerome

*UPDATE*

July 04, 2018: I had a recurrence of the cellulitis and hit upon something that worked brilliantly: BETADINE. I applied straight Betadine to my feet and ankles with a cotton ball every few hours for a couple days and kept my feet elevated. Worked like a charm. I recommend trying Betadine as soon as the signs of cellulitis rear their head.


Soap, Iodine, Fasting

Posted by Raychil (Chiang Mai) on 12/31/2015
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Woke up yesterday to realise that I had 20-30 cellulitis pustules on my thigh and some were draining. The area was also really swollen. It started from an insect bite I scratched the head off a few days ago and didn't think much of it but it must have got infected.

Anyway it got so much worse during the day and I was getting really worried. I applied iodine to the area maybe 3 times in the day but it kept getting worse. Then the next day I woke up and it looked awful and probably worse, so I decided to get really serious and water fast all day, applied hot then cold then hot then cold etc. water for few mins with shower head, washed the area well with soap and then apply iodine when dry. I went out to shops to buy bandages etc. and when I got back about 2 hrs later it was so much better I didn't need them - it was amazing!

I washed with soap and when dry applied iodine again and changed clothes (In case it got dirty outside house) and reapplied iodine again in evening, and now it is so much better! No swelling, no drainage and bumps are so much smaller. I expect will be gone now in couple days.

I have had it once before in past from insect bite again but it was really serious before I realised what was happening and I resorted to loads of antibiotics. But I still found washing area with soap thoroughly and applying hot/cold/hot/cold water with shower head very effective at healing it, I would see big improvement after showers doing this. And again I would apply iodine after shower when dry, and couple more times a day.

I think the water fasting, soap and hot/cold/hot/cold water and iodine was an amazing combination. Truly miraculous how fast it turned around.

Hope this helps someone :)



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