Boil

A furuncle (from the Latin furunculus, little thief ') is a deep, painful inflammation of the hair follicle and the surrounding tissue, which usually arises from staphylococci ( Staphylococcus aureus) or a mixed flora.

Due to tissue death (necrosis) and central melting ( pus ) creates a " graft ", which can break through the skin surface and thus to empty spontaneously. Healing occurs with scarring.

The inflammation of the surrounding tissue causes the painfulness of the area.

Localization

Folliculitis can occur at any point in the hairy skin. Only when the inflammation spreads to the entire hair follicle and the surrounding tissues, it is called a boil. Melting several boils together, this leads to a very painful, large carbuncle.

Very dangerous are Furunkelbildungen in the face area because the plexus pterygoidus is consistent both with the veins of the face and with the cavernous sinus in intracranial connection in the deep facial region between the muscles of mastication. Similarly, the angular vein can through the veins of the eye socket to communicate with this. The inflammation can slowly spread to the veins along to the brain and lead to life-threatening inflammation of the brain or cerebral venous thrombosis.

Boils occur spontaneously and usually solitary without identifiable cause or heaped. However, skin diseases such as impetigo and sycosis and metastases in suppurative diseases of other organs and resulting septicemia causes of furuncles can be. In episodic occurrence is spoken of furunculosis. Especially diabetics and people with kidney disease are more prone to boils. Other causes are too tight, abrasive clothing or inadequate disinfection after a shave.

Therapy

A boil should be cut surgically to counteract by the resulting pressure relief the further advance of the pathogen into the surrounding tissue. The " immature " boil can by applying ointments vasodilator in favorable cases a healing occur, otherwise the maturation of the furuncle and thus the time can be accelerated up to the surgical treatment. Antibiotics can help to minimize tissue damage.

Another treatment option is a therapeutic trial with autovaccines, a kind of vaccination with the individual pathogens in chronic occurrence.