HealthInfo Waitaha Canterbury
A boil is a small painful lump in your skin that is filled with pus. It is caused by an infection. A larger deeper skin infection is called an abscess.
Boils and skin abscesses are usually caused by a bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus (staph).
Staphylococcus aureus often lives on your skin without causing any problems. But if you have a break in your skin such as a cut, the bacteria can get under your skin and cause an infection.
You are more likely to get boils if you have:
See a health professional if:
You can usually manage these at home. They will usually go away in a few days.
Soak a clean cloth in warm water and hold it on the boil for 10 minutes, 4 times a day. This will help the boil open up and drain.
If the boil opens, clean the skin around it and cover it until it heals over.
To stop the boil spreading:
These will need to be treated by a healthcare professional.
They will usually make a cut to drain the pus. A more severe abscess may need an operation to open it up so the pus can be drained.
You may also need to have antibiotics.
Some people keep getting boils. This is usually because the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria on their skin can easily cause an infection when they have any broken skin (such as cuts or scrapes).
You can reduce your risk of getting boils by:
If you keep getting boils, your health professional may recommend that you and your household contacts have a treatment to clear the bacteria from your skin. This is known as decolonisation.
HealthInfo recommends the following pages
Information about what can cause your tamaiti (child) to get a boil and what you can do to care for them.
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Page created May 2024.
Review key: HISNI-49791