Home Remedies for Impetigo

I was using a strong topical antibiotic on my recurring impetigo. I was warned by my doctor to not overuse it, but little spots would show up on my legs and I struggled to keep outbreaks under control. After checking Earth Clinic, I tried grapefruit seed extract. It has basically cured my impetigo. As soon as I detect a spot, I apply the extract directly, and by the next day the rash is gone. Truly remarkable. Thanks, Earth Clinic!

For Impetigo, try Colloidal Silver. One TBS by mouth every morning and every evening. Wash affected area with soap and water. Rinse very well. Blot dry, careful not to rub to other areas. Put Sovereign Colloidal Silver on cotton ball and blot generously on impetigo sores. Use several cotton balls, carefully discarding contaminated ones. After applying Colloidal Silver, take a q-tip and apply Coconut Oil and leave it. Both Colloidal Silver and Coconut oil have antibacterial properties and work great. You should start seeing healing! After impetigo "rash" is gone, continue Colloidal Silver orally for about a week to boost immune system! Hope this helps! I did this for my 3 year old grandson that developed this all around his nose and upper lip. It's working!!!

Hey folks I have great news, after battling with impetigo for the last year or more my friend passed on some awesome advice: MANUKA HONEY! I had some 15+ Manuka Honey in the cupboard and put some on the impetago on my face and within hours my friend and I observed my face healing. I've been putting Manuka on my face for 4 days now and almost all of it has gone. I'm so thrilled I wanted to share with you immediately. Get some Manuka honey on your impetigo now. Btw, I have long hair and it's a bit sticky on my hair but so what, I'll take sticky hair over impetigo any day. Good luck beautiful people. I hope this helps you.

Black Walnut:

My son had Staph Impetigo rash cultured and diagnosed by his doctor, in his diaper region. I made a paste of powdered black walnut hulls, just with the powder and water, applied over the rash. Rash cleared up within 2 days, without need for the antibiotic ointment prescribed. I also gave him 1 drop of black walnut tincture a few times a day until the rash was gone.

Hello everone, my name is David and I get impetigo break outs every since I can remeber being a kid. When I was younger I tried every type of option. I am 32 years old now and for me the simplest solution worked for me and which I still use today.

Go to your local drug store and get yourself some Campho-Phenique cold sore treatment with DRYING ACTION. It is important to get this exact one. Not the liquid one because we don't want to wet different areas. Its a thick gel type. What you do is get a q tip and dap only the effected area. The sooner the better. This dries quick and will crest kind of a scab over the blister. Let it sit and dap some more in a few hours. The first day of treating empetigo is very important. You do not want to break the skin of the sales because that's how it spreads, that why you do not use the liquid form, you will get horrible results. This gel neutralizes it and it is very important that you do not touch the soares for 24 hrs. You can gently dap more gel with a tooth tip as much as needed. One major mistake people make is that they take a shower, that is just feeding the problem. We want the sores to stay shut dry and never leak out. It is important for the sore to keeps its scab for as long as possible.

Day two you will see that soar looks to be tamed and is seems to be drying off, at the end of day 2 take a shower and the scam will easily fall off, the more time in the shower the scam slowly breaks down. It most like will bleed a little but this is the time to go for the kill. Get a fresh a tip and apply only on effected areas. It will most likely burn but its with the results. 1 hour later apply a little more and if their is no sting, you basically killed it..

Day 3 just leave a thin layer of medication one time and let the afternoon dry it out. You can follow that same procedure for day 4. That's it it will be dead and it will heal in time. If you're pro like me I catch them at a really early stage that you can't even tell. I catch them when they are still ingrown and by the time it surfaces 3 days later, it's already dead and healed itself in a short period. Things not to do, never lubricate these sores, never cover these sores and use a gel substance. When I was in high school I would cut the top of the sores with a razor blade, bleed it out and then apply rubbing alcohol on it, it stung but killed the damn things instantly. Campho Phenique is a more civilized major. Follow those rules and you'll be ok...

Read the Dr Axe article on horsetail, hair is straight or curly is based on shape of follicle. Fungus can affect follicles and make hair strands vulnerable. hair is a mineral balance affected by many things like biotin. Your skin issue may be liver acting up... take dessicated beef liver, so body will attack supplement and not your liver, so your liver can regain ability to strengthen detox and heal immune systems. maybe a milk thistle at bedtime detox liver so it can bounce back and skin recover. Fat soluble vitamins aecdf need a good fat in liver so liver can make bile to absorb them....all affect skin. Body low on bile does not make and may not absorb supplemental b vitamins. I use ox bile. Cortisol stops digestion processes. constipation or diarrhea or some nightmare in between. Stress eats up magnesium. castor oil is a good read. I use comfrey tea in my hair but may not help with matting issues. I hear silica for that and maybe get some horsetail plant and make a gel solution and apply and then let set and rinse. Skin is your largest organ and when it is crying out, go fix liver, the largest detox organ.

Hi Cindy -

Regarding your severely matted hair, have you tried adding those essential oils (oregano, Thieves, tea tree) to coconut oil and massaging that into your hair and scalp to soften it?

You probably would have to leave it in for a few hours then use a wide-tooth comb starting at the end of your hair and combing just an inch or so before moving up slowly. It would be quite arduous - depending on the length of your hair - and you may have to keep repeating it for a number of days.

My other suggestion is to contact hair salons in your area and explain the situation (some salons have clients who wear dreadlocks - search dreadlocks phoenix). If they can't help you, perhaps they can refer you to someone who can.

It sounds like you are really progressing and your hair is the last part of the puzzle.

Best of luck!

Oh yes. Diet is crucial.

Most of these comments are about people trying to treat it with external remedies, but often they are only temporary because few realise that whatever shows in the skin is usually triggered by what is going on inside the body.

The skin is the largest detoxification organ - especially when certain toxins cannot be eliminated very well by the normal channels.

You have done well to make the connection between your diet & the Impetigo. Dumping highly refined, nutrient-stripped wheat & sugar & adopting a natural, unprocessed whole food diet can make a big difference when it comes to healing the body from various ailments & diseases, including ones often assumed to be ‘irreversible'.

I read every post in this thread. I have gotten impetigo twice on my chin from already aggravated eczema. I went to Disneyland twice and it was super busy both times, despite frequent hand washing and being winter and almost completely covered I contracted it twice!

The first time I went to the doctor because it started as a small itchy bump and spread. I put tea tree on it as it's my go to, but the tea tree I had wasn't great. From there I covered with a bandage. The bandage irritated my skin and it spread as bumps that then burst and formed scabs. The doctor put me on an antibiotic for staph and strep skin infections, and bandages infused with silver. It was itchy and I cleaned it with an antibac soap but it continued to spread for a week. I finished my antibiotics and the original spot was healed but I had it up the side of my face. And throat. I bought better tea tree, grape fruit seed extract oil and a tincture for internal use. It itched like crazy even though I mixed it with aloe and eventually jojoba. I also took turmeric in warm soy two times a day for the last three days. It cleared up taking a total of three weeks.

Fast forward three weeks later and after another day at disney I saw the same red splotch crop up and I went directly for tea tree and gse Internally and the oil on the area. It started to spread with another part popping up so I waged serious warfare as I can't live like this for another three weeks.

My methods-

Wash wash with medical grade antibacterial solution in early stage- wash affected area, and wash around the area. The soap is really drying!

While it's still wet, pour hydrogen peroxide on it, let it bubble. It itches and stings but it works. Pat dry, no rubbing! The first time I soaked and scrubbed off the scabs and it spread like wildfire. I found actually washing less and just disinfecting helped it be contained.

After the hydrogen peroxide, I covered the areas affected in pivoine iodine, with separate cotton pads, then the area all around with yet another cotton pad.

For the dried itchy areas without sores, I rotate between calendula, jojoba and coconut oil.

On the sores, I initially started with gse, iodine, and black walnut tincture. They seemed a little effective but then I found the thing that seemed to help the most-

18+ manuka honey. Really expensive but a little goes a long way! I put too much on just as a salve and it started dripping. For bed I covered again the sores and around the sores with iodine, then made a bandage our of gauze, applied a thin layer of honey to the gauze and then apploed to my face with the aid if sensitive skin bandages, since last time the irritation from the bandages gave me pimples which in turn got infected by the impetigo. I used coconut oil around so the bandages didn't stick so well, but it was just for sleeping with.

During the day I alternate between manuka and coconut oil on the sores, and continue to disinfect with hydrogen peroxide and iodine.

has it worked? The difference on healing between the doctors prescribed methods and my home remedies has cut two weeks of healing and suffering. I have scabs and no spreading or bumps or pimples, and the areas appear to be getting smaller. I'm on day three and I'm taking a teaspoon of manuka honey also on an empty stomach and eating a diet of organic foods and lots of veg and little sugar. I hope my story helps someone!

Oh and for references am a 30 year old female, both times I caught impetigo were really cold days and my immune system was low from just having been sick both times. I am a lifetime eczema and allergy sufferer, and I recently started taking algae supplements for suspected low thyroid function. I take a tincture of gse in water daily but have upped it to two times daily due to the impetigo. I'm going to get food allergy tested to try to cure the eczema so that my immune system can be stronger to fight these nasty bugs!

good luck to everyone!

I wanted to write about impetigo: I experienced what I thought was a cold sore on my lip and then I noticed blistering on my chin. I was then diagnosed with impetigo on my chin with blistering, inflamed skin, oozing/leaking yellow liquid and then crusting and scabbing. This recurred 4 times over and over.... and took over a week to move through the stages with each occurrence. I was put on the topical Mupirocin... which worked but then it came back. I tried other antibiotics such as Doxycycline, Batrum and Keflix which also worked to some degree but then it came back. I also tried Grapefruit Seed Extract (GFSE) which worked as well or better than the antibiotics and drew out the yellow liquid and resulted in shorter time with scabs. I was very impressed with the GFSE.... however it came back again!! I was sent to a dermatologist who said that it might be a combination of impetigo and herpes simplex 1/cold sore virus as the infection kept returning in the exact same place on my chin every time. She put me on an antiviral, Valtrex. I also started to take large amounts of Lysine and limited my foods that contained arginine. It finally went away and has not returned!

I share as I wanted to let others know if you have what looks to be impetigo that keeps recurring in the exact same place it might be both impetigo and herpes simplex 1!!!!!

Thank you for this awesome website!! Sara

Dear Sls,

So sorry! Six years is a long time to be dealing with this!

Impetigo can really hang on, but you should be able to treat it naturally. I have treated this a couple of times in my children.

Take turmeric, internally. 1 teaspoon twice a day. You can take it in milk or take 4 capsules twice a day. This helps so much! Even when you notice improvement, continue taking for at least a week after it is healed and even keep taking it a few times a week as a preventative after you heal.

You can continue using the GSE. It may just take a little longer to work.

Did you use the tea tree straight? If you haven't tried diluting it in the coconut oil, try that. Get a little dab of coconut oil and add just one drop of tea tree to it. Use this several times a day if it doesn't bother you.

We used a colloidal silver spray topically on the impetigo, several times a day. (Not at the same time as coconut oil, though.)

Your make up could be reinfecting you, depending on how you are using it. (If a brush touches your face and you put it back into the make up.)

Garlic, internally, is a great help, but not great when you are going to school...on the weekend if you will be home, you can take 1 clove of crushed garlic in some honey 3 times a day.

Plenty of water will help your body eliminate infection better. Avoiding soda and white sugar will help your body to heal faster.

Please let us know how it goes. I hope you are healed very soon.

~Mama to Many~

My experience with Impetigo...

I'm a 44 year old woman. My first encounter with Impetigo was 8 or 9 years ago - it appeared on my legs and it seemed the epicenter of each patch was a tiny wound or injury. I didn't know what it was so I did some research and concluded incorrectly that it was a variety of Psoriasis. For some reason, my online searches didn't come up with Impetigo. Like everyone else, I tried everything I could think of to relieve the horrible itching and eventually noticed that flushing the patches with hot water with a hand-held showerhead offered a numbing effect lasted from several hours to a whole day. Also, it was obvious that the more I scratched, the larger the patches became so I learned to leave the areas alone and to bandage them so my clothes wouldn't aggravate the situation. After a week or two, with regular hot water flushing and just not spreading the patches, the skin healed.

Now for my second encounter with Impetigo. It started a week ago, again in response to a tiny injury. I researched it again and Impetigo jumped right out. Knew I had the right diagnosis this time. The various sites containing information clarified the sequence of events from a few years ago. I learned that the blister fluid is infectious, for example. I also learned that Impetigo is caused by bacteria and that I wasn't dealing with contact dermatitis or anything like that. The hot water flushing offered relief just like before but this time, I added a twist. I reasoned that if hot water helped, perhaps hot air would too. So after I shower, I use a hair dryer on the patches, as hot as I can stand it. Then, I bandage the areas as before.

I'm thrilled to report that the hair dryer has worked wonders. The patches are healing much more quickly. My theory as to why it works is that the heat kills the bacteria. After all, your body elevates its temperature to fight infection so it makes sense to me that topical heat might kill bacteria on or in the skin. The heat from the hair dryer has the same numbing effect so that the patches don't itch for at least half a day.

Tip: be very careful with the hot water and the hot hair. Hold it on the patches only until you just begin to feel a tiny bit burned. Any longer than that, and you will actually be burned. I flick the shower head and the hair dryer back and forth over the patches for a few moments to make sure they are fully heated.

Tip: be very careful as you dry off after a shower. Don't let the towel touch the infected areas. I dab those with a bit of toilet paper which I then flush. It might be easier to dry your body with a small towel which is more controllable than a large floppy bath towel.

As other posters have noted, it seems lotions and ointments only aggravate the skin and don't actually relieve any of the itching and pain. I just cover the areas securely and employ the heat treatment as necessary.

Thank you so much for your old recipe with Ivory soap. Amazing! :-)

Ivory soap used to be old-fashioned soap (just fat transformed by lye into soap). No longer. Now it's a detergent bar. Detergents damage the skin barrier. Old-fashioned soap bars can still be bought in health food stores and farmers markets.

Hi Cindy, Have you tried chlorine dioxide (also known as CDS or MMS)? It is a safe and broad spectrum approach (anti- microbial, antiviral, detoxes heavy metals, etc.)

I sympathize with not wanting to shave your hair, but if it were me I would do it in order to best treat my scalp. I had a very short haircut in my early 20s and it really did grow back pretty fast. I would alternate bathing in MMS which would allow a nice soak for your scalp, and also taking MMS drops internally. Of course, massaging with oils topically would be much easier and probably more effective having shorter hair without matting to work through. (extra virgin coconut or chia seed oil would be great. The 2 mixed -! Even better. Add essential oils or herbal extracts).

You shared about doing a parasite cleanse. Can you give your protocol ... such as exactly what and how much of each thing you took per day?

Wishing you all the best. Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

hi, I am@wondering which brand GSE you used. I have been informed that since they've removed the synthetic preservatives GSE actually has no real antiseptic properties. I am desperately seeking a cure for my 1yo

I had a skin infection (had for 3 weeks, thought to be impetigo) - wouldn't heal with antibiotic ointment. So I got some betadine ointment. And it is working great. 72 hours in and it's mostly dried out.

Nutribiotic makes a liquid GrapeFruit Seed Extract. A little of that mixed into Aloe Vera Gel & applied topically may have taken care of Diane's Impetigo on her leg (with or without taking the GfSE orally). GfSE *is* an antibiotic, & Nutribiotic's *is* effective on most things I've used it for, but it *must* be diluted first. And one should take probiotics aafter ingesting it, as it destroys the *good* along with *bad* gut bacteria.

Wondering if you have tried an ozone machine? It's worked for me if I use it regularly.

To Sls from Wayne,

Re the Impetigo: You report the infection has been with you for six years and only recently diagnosed as Impetigo...which is either staph or strep in causation. I read that a MRSA form can also cause Impetigo which is more stubborn. If the current antibiotic fails to work, I'd consider using Colloidal Silver topically and the herb Echinacea. There are other anti bacterias; tea tree oil, olive leaf oil also.

But one note of caution; If I'd had this a long time, as you report, it may be in your system, if this were me, I would take oral Colloidal Silver for six months, orally...two tablespoons a day. I'd also keep applying topically for many months.

I ran across a recent case of a person who was hospitalized and as a normal precaution the hospital did a swab of the nose and the patient did have MRSA in her sinus cavity. She was not in the hospital for that but the nurses took extra caution after discovering that she was MERSA infected. The hospital did not treat the MERSA and a day later she went home and began swabbing her sinus cavity with Colloidal Silver. A follow up visit to the hospital a month later ... same hospital.... and another MRSA swab, found NO MRSA. She concluded the CS killed the MRSA.

Amazing!! You are the only other person I have read about who uses this method. I started doing this 6 years ago when my baby had it. On one limb I used AB cream. On the other I used Colloidal silver and the Oregano oil + coconut oil combo you mentioned. It worked WAY quicker than the antibiotic cream!! I forget where I learned that from, but it definitely helped us.

I've been struggling with impetigo constantly for the last couple of months, I have now been able to reduce the outbreak to only 3 days. Simply soak a cotton bud in vodka and hold firmly on the infected area for a couple of minutes, do this throughout the day when you become aware of it. Immediately after doing so, hold your hairdryer over the infected area until the heat becomes too uncomfortable for you, this dries it up nicely and speeds up healing remarkably while also killing bacteria with the heat. Many reviews say to wash the area throughout the day but this will actually help spread the impetigo - be careful not to get it too wet in the shower also. The vodka will kill bacteria effectively but also help prevent spreading. For me, on day 3 only a small scab was visible and it was clearly healing and disappearing much quicker than with previous methods.

I use apple cider vinegar applied directly to the impetigo infected skin and it kills the bacteria. It eventually heals in a few days and the recovery time is so much faster than any prescription I have ever taken for it as well as any other topical treatment. I have also changed my eating habits to eating more vegetarian/vegan options and noticed that I dont have as many yearly flair ups as I used to when I ate meat.

For impetigo I use Manuka honey straight onto my face as a face wash and then a salve. It kills the bacteria, sloughs off the scabbing naturally without irritaion and provides a barrier from it spreading. You can get varying strengths of Manuka Honey, I use Active 12

Do not try to use regular pasteurized, store-brand honey. It does not contain the antimicrobial properties that Manuka Honey does and will not work. To boot if you have used antibiotic creams they have a side effect of creating a fungal environment when used too long and regular honey not having the properties to kill this will only feed it and make it worse.

At night I use a carrier oil with essential oil blend in it specifically for Impetigo.

Olive Oil
Jojoba Oil (Close to skin sebum)
Buriti (Use 10% max in carrier mix, as it stains)
Rosehip Seed (Antiscarring)

Essential Oils (Add 4-8drops of each to 50ml of oil):

• Lemongrass (Antiviral, Antibacterial, Astringent)
• Tea Tree (Antibacterial, Antifungal)
• Eucalyptus (Antiviral and Antibacterial)
• Lavender (Antiviral and Antibacterial, Soothing)
• Ravensara (Heals Scarring)
• Helychrysum (Heals Scarring)

Carrier oils that are good to use are Organic Cold Pressed (Use one or all together)

I'm 22 years old and have been getting impetigo for as long as I can remember. Tried lots of things to kill it in the past and so far tea tree oil works best but number one thing is don't scratch or it spreads big time and fast.

My Impetigo just kept getting worse and worse, started from my leg ( 2 giant spots ), then up to my arms. I've tried antibiotics nad ointments. It seemed like they would work, but after going through the whole bottle of pills, it was was still apparant the impetigo was running rampant.

I googled ' impetigo remedies ' and it brought me here. Went to Walgreens and bought a $10 GSE bottle that came with 100 pills.

AND AM I HAPPY!!!! The scars are fading, the swelling has gone down, and my skin looks like its clearing up. Its been day #2 of taking 3 pills, twice a day morning and night. Waking up on my 3rd day, and the impetigo is dry and feels like its healing really well.

thank you for this suggestion.

btw, the garlic and olive oil did not work for me. but GSE is amazing.

I get occassional impetigo outbreaks on my chin and recently on my cheek. The first time it happened, I assumed it was a zit that got infected.

Because I don't have insurance, I have to treat non-serious health issues at home. The last outbreak was pretty scary as I developed large clear blisters on my cheek which never happened before.

I use a combination of things to treat an impetigo outbreak:

1. I wash the area with a medical grade sterile wash.

2. I then dab some rubbing alcohol, then dress the area with sterile bandages and Neosporin.

3. 2-4 times a day I will soak a paper towel in vinegar and hold it on the infected area up to 20 minutes.

4. 2-4 times a day, I will make a paste of garlic cloves and leave it on the affected area as long as I can stand it.

5. Generally, I keep the area bandaged until it scabs over.

6. If I even suspect I might get an outbreak, I start rubbing a cut garlic clove on the suspicious area and do the vinegar treatment. It saved me from getting an outbreak about 1 month ago.

I will have to try the grapefruit seed extract and colloidal silver sometime. Thanks for the tips.

@J from Farmington, Nm, Usa: Regarding touching impetigo with rubbing alcohol--that is something I quickly learned *not* to do. Rubbing alcohol 70% was so irritating to my itchy blisters that they would immediately swell up even higher and itch more ferociously. I think the consequent swelling helped them to spread, not really what I wanted to see happen. I switched to using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) between washing and before applying topical oil treatments. It is much more gentle on your skin and the oxygen is good.

cure for impetigo: to stop the itch and dry the lesions use 1 pound of pure lard and 3 oz. sulfur compound. can be found at your local pharmacy. it dries the lesions and the fall off and the itching goes away. my grandmother used this formula for both chicken pox and impetigo. its great. really does the job.

Impetigo developed on my face and I have tried so many medicines/cremes prescribed by doctors even the newest one known as the altabax but nothing worked for months. Lastly I tried grapefruit seed extract by applying it on my impetigo 4 times a week. For me it started to itch really bad exactly where the impetigo was. It started becoming red and when it became too itchy I took it off. During the other days, I washed the impetigo with hydrogen peroxide. I held the cotton soaked with the hydrogen peroxide on my impetigo until the pimples become white. It will burn if you hold it enough and the pimple will become white but if you do this 2 times a day, eventually it will go away. It took me two weeks to remove the impetigo and I'm so happy I cured myself because it looked terrible. After that your skin can be kind of red but eventually it will heal and it will become a new healthy skin.