# carbuncle?



## All country (Dec 23, 2003)

My son-in-law has what appears to be a carbuncle on his back.

He and Daughter asked me to look at it tonight. As I was gently feeling around it, a very thick, light colored pus came spraying out, tons of it and it smelled vile. This was just gently feeling around it, not squeezing. The site is now soft and no longer red. Would this be normal?

Not knowing anything at all about these, we washed everything with soap and water then wiped the entire area down with alcohol. I suggested maybe a compress with crushed garlic covering it tonight. Is there anything else we should be doing?


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I would personally use hot packs intermittently to pull out any pus and put colloidal silver on it. 
Boils/carbuncles are caused by a staph bacteria. And, we know that staph has become a MRSA epidemic because it just doesn't always respond to "cillians" anymore. Hence, I would use either silver or even chorhexidine on it if you have any. You can even simply tape a small piece of silver bouillon to the wound, or use some antibiotic that is not a "cillian". 
But, yes it is normal for a boil to pop, spit out the nasty stuff, and the inflammation to go down. But I would be using some sort of antibacterial product on it that will kill all staph such as silver, chlorhexidine, or even an antibiotic that can still be effective against a staph infection..... keflex, sulphas, vancomycin, etc


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## Drizler (Jun 16, 2002)

There is no better feeling of relief than when one of those monsters comes popping out. They hurt so darned much up to that point and so often just won't pop no matter how much you squeeze them. Next time around have some el cheapo coal tar drawing salve on hand. A tube only costs a few dollars and it lasts about forever. Put that stuff on a small gauze pad taped on Mt. Washington and in a few days it will be ready to pop. That stuff makes you smell like a fresh stretch of blacktop but sure does the deed. That will often keep yoiu from having to go into the Dr's office to get it lanced. Infected hairs seem to cause those much of the time where you sweat a lot and clothing rubs.


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

These often come right back, if not totally cleaned out and the "core" removed, which is usually hard. If there is a large hole left, keep sterile gauze over it, and continue hot compresses and flush with sterile saline. If drainage stinks or is dark green, it is wise to to go a doctor and get an antibiotic, as MRSA kills...this from my son, who is a nurse.
Also, frequently recurring boils/carbuncles are sometimes a symptom of diabetes, so blood sugar should be checked for that.


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## onebizebee (May 12, 2011)

Manuka honey will stop MRSA dead in its tracks. Will also work on the worst bed soars too. Go get manuka honey at the health food store. It is expensive about $26.00 for a jar of it a little bit goes a looooong way. Put directly on the wound/soar then add some to gauze place on the wound tape clean gauze over that. Leave on for 24 hours. It will cause the area of treatment to weep and ooze this is normal. Pull off gauze and clean with saline solution and repete until the wound is healing and drying up. I used this on many patients when volunteering with my mom. Some of them had the most wicked bed soars like the ones that go to the bone. This healed them when nothing else would.


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