100 lb. Club - Bumps on the Inside of Thighs

This is an embarassing question, but I must ask because it has gone on too long and I still do not know the cause. I think it may be because I'm overweight.

I get these painful bumps on the inside of my thighs. They are reddened, and if I squeeze them, pus comes out. :shrug: They are extremely painful, and very painful to pop (and sometimes IMPOSSIBLE to pop) but if I manage to pop them, they feel better and heal quickly.

I know this is gross, so please forgive me. I know I shouldn't pop them, but as I said, it feels better when I do.

So, does anyone else get these? Do you know how to prevent them? How to get rid of them? What do you do?

Thanks in advance.

i was going to ask the same thing. i've hard them all this month. :tantrum: and i cant pop mine. i think they are small boils, and if so dont pop them they are filled with bacteria and it will take forever to heal. i just bought antibacterial bar soap and i'm gonna wash wash wash and see if that helps. some people i think are just prone to it. my SO had them for years when he played football. its just friction, sweat, and germs. i dont know what else to do, hopefully someone else knows and it will get better when i lose some weight. so youre not alone :hug:

Thanks for getting back to me! There are times where I don't have them at all, then there are times where I seem more prone to get them. I don't know what spurs them, and I have one right now that is SO incredibly painful and I can't pop it.

I soaked tonight in some epsom salt that had some kind of herbs added that was supposed to have some kind of healing properties (LOL, that sounds weird, but I don't remember exactly what it was called). I hope it helps or at least reduces it so that it is less painful tomorrow.

Got this information from an online medical website...

They are a form of boil. A boil occurs when bacteria--usually Staphylococcus aureus--invade a hair follicle in the skin, travels down the follicle and forms a collection of infected pus at the base. The boil often comes to a head when the fluid naturally pushes its way to the skin surface.

The result is a swollen, hard red bump on your skin.

Never pop a boil. "A boil drains a large amount of highly infected fluid. If you squeeze it, you will actually spread the infection and make it worse." Instead, try these doctor-recommended steps.

Apply warm compresses. "Warm, moist heat increases blood flow to the area, which may bring the boil to a head and speed healing," says dermatologist Karen E. Burke, M.D., Ph.D., an attending physician at Cabrini Medical Center in New York City and at Greensboro Specialty Surgical Center in North Carolina.

Apply a washcloth soaked in hot water to the boil for 20 to 30 minutes, two or three times a day, until the boil comes to a head. "Sometimes that allows the boil to pop on its own and drain," says Dr. Clark. Once the boil pops naturally, it should feel better immediately, and it should heal in several days. Some people apply an ice pack after the hot pack and say that accellerates the healing process.

Reap the benefits of benzoyl peroxide. Especially if a boil is large, the acne preparation benzoyl peroxide may help dry it out. "An over-the-counter benzoyl peroxide agent such as Oxy 10 can be used twice a day to dry out the lesion and reduce its size," says Wilma Bergfeld, M.D., head of clinical research in the Department of Dermatology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. "Benzoyl peroxide is also an antiseptic, so it kills bacteria."

Try a saline solution. Once a boil pops, apply saltwater to draw out pus and fluid and dry it out. "In a clean basin or sink, mix a teaspoon of salt for every cup of hot water. Dip in a washcloth, wring it out and hold it on the boil. When it cools, redip it and reapply," suggests Dr. Clark.

Wash away germs. Keep the area clean by washing with a liquid antibacterial soap and water, especially when a boil has started to drain. "Tap water is fine unless it's an open wound; then use sterile bottled water," says Dr. Bergfeld.

Apply antibacterial ointment. Bacitracin or Neosporin can help kill off any bacteria that is inside the boil or on the skin, says Dr. Clark.

I was tempted to try and pop them too but figured like a pimple, you can often drive the infection deeper into your skin so best to try one of the suggestions above.

I had them and they were boils/staph infection. If they get to big you should go see a doc and get some antibiotics becuase it could be staph. Sometimes they will go away on their own and sometimes they get out of control. Doc did say weight played a big role in it. : / BTW boils/staph is contagious and is a pandemic right now. Make sure you dissenfect the toilet or it could spread to family members. Also since we started using Hybiclens my daughter and my staph hasn't recurred. It is dissinfectant/antifungal soap. We us it once a week and haven't had a reccurance for a few months now. Ours was a slightly extreme situation though.

Thanks a lot. That kind of makes me feel yucky, but it definitely answered my question. I've looked for it on the internet before, but never had any luck on finding the info. I should have looked again, but was curious if anyone else had the same kind of issue!

I'll have to pay extra care to that area of my body. I take a shower daily, but since I exercise and move around more, I imagine I accumulate more sweat than I used to.

I've actually used the hot wash cloth on it before, and thought soaking it in super hot water tonight would help, but it didn't. It's so tough not to pop it - I'm always so tempted! The bad thing about it is that if you try to pop it, and can't, you make it worse, and that makes you want to pop it even more.

Thanks a lot for the comments and help.

I had them and they were boils/staph infection. If they get to big you should go see a doc and get some antibiotics becuase it could be staph. Sometimes they will go away on their own and sometimes they get out of control. Doc did say weight played a big role in it. : / BTW boils/staph is contagious and is a pandemic right now. Make sure you dissenfect the toilet or it could spread to family members. Also since we started using Hybiclens my daughter and my staph hasn't recurred. It is dissinfectant/antifungal soap. We us it once a week and haven't had a reccurance for a few months now. Ours was a slightly extreme situation though.

I'm not trying to get too personal, but I'm curious - how extreme is "slightly extreme?" I'm curious if I need to go to the doctor or buy special soap!

I've had these too, but you should see a doctor about them if they don't go away quickly, or if you get alot of them and they reoccur frequently (especialy in the thighs, groins and armpits). While it is rare, there is an autoimmune condition that sometimes be responsible.

I have a mystery autoimmune disease that is attacking my nose and sinuses (it may be in remission, we're not sure - but it caused a quarter-size whole in my nasal septum). When I was a frequent visitor to an autoimmune message board, there were two ladies who had this condition.

From their experience, I wouldn't be paranoid about it, because it doesn't sound like you can mistake the occasional boil, from the constant "plague" of boils these women experienced, you would definitely know something was terribly wrong. I just mention it because even when symptoms are severe, sometimes people are hesitant to mention "gross" or "embarrasing" symptoms to their doctor.

I think weight does play a role, but so do lots of other things, like circulation, skin health and genetic susceptibility. They are boils and/or infected hair follicles. My advice is go to the dr., they can give you a topical antibiotic or oral antibiotic if you need it and then they will be gone. Once they are gone, exfoliate with a scrub and use antibiotic soap and that will really really help. I have followed this plan and have greatly greatly minimized it. I think it is only embarassing because no one wants to admit they have them. My friend who is a dr. says it happens to lots of people.

I get them occasionally... I pop them with a needle and they usually go away. I have always heard not to but I do it and it never hurts anything.

I'm not trying to get too personal, but I'm curious - how extreme is "slightly extreme?" I'm curious if I need to go to the doctor or buy special soap!

lol i don't mind your getting personal. Well my youngest daughter who was 2 1/2 at the time had what looked like spider bite on her front upper leg (thigh). the lump itself was about the size of a quarter the redness in total was about the same diamater as a tennis ball. doc at emergency room said it was a brown recluse bite take her home give her hot hot baths to soften it, slough off the top layer and squeeze out the poison. we did that and god there was so much puss ALOT of puss and my daughter had to be held down by me my boyfriend and my 12 year old daughter. Ok well we get it popped and an hour later the redness is only the same size as the problem spot. Had to pop it a few times over a course of a week. Finally it was gone, ok fastforward a week, now she has them around the area we popped the first one. Can't remember exactly how many there were but a handfull of them anyway. We took her to her doctor instead of emergency room and she takes one look and says Oh yea thats staph. She then told me it was a pandemic right now and she has been getting several cases a week. Well Luna ended up needing 4 courses of antibiotics to finally get rid of it. We have been battling it for over a year. Well about 6 months ago i started to get some boils but they weren't anything like the ones I had before. They were more painful, deeper, harder and hurt me terribly when I moved. And they looked like my daughters boils. I dotn' have a doctor, no insurance, my kids are covered but i'm not. So as my 3 year old was getting hers undercontrol and doctor had her in for followups I would show her doc mine as well and she would help me out and get some antibiotics for me. They only worked while I had them to take. After a month or so they would come back full force. By this time though i had them between my breasts (at the time a grotesque size G grrr) under my armpits in between my legs and under my fat belly fluppy thing hehe. So i did some research and found the Hybliclens. They use this stuff in schools now for the wrestlers where staph is extremely high occurance. Once a week is what i use on daughter and i and we wash our entire bodies with it. The nice thing about it is once youw wash with it it leaves a protective barrier that stays on your skin. So when you scratch your skin open the staph infection is better fought off.
Staph can get into the tiniest microscopic opening. A hair follicle, when you scratch your eye (even though there isn't any cut you can see there is one microscopic). That is how staph usually gets in. Through hair follicles and small cuts or even big cuts.

The reason i say ours was that bad is becuase staph is mostly dangerous when it gets into your blood stream. It can also get into your lungs and cause those boils inside your lungs. We were battling them everyday and with each needle poke of drainage there was a chance of piercing to far and possibly tainting the blood. We also had at least 3-5 of them at once and they weren't small by any meens.

Also a big thing about staph if that is what you have. It colonizes in your nose. DO not pick your nose. This is where it grows and lives comfortably. Another of the home treatments is to use a triple antibiotic (neosporin, polysporin) and with a q tip rub some in your nostril. It wil help kill the staph. This is one of the reasons my 3 year old had it soooo bad. she is ALWAYS in her nose.

BTW it has left my daughters legs, butt and belly scarred up. They are dark and brown scars. They are going away slowly though and probably will dissapear over a course of time. If you go to the doctor and they suspect staph, make sure they do a nose swab. They will be able to grow it and find the best antibiotic to kill it. My daughter's doctor failed to do that and that is why she had to take so many antibiotics to kill it.

I get those sometimes in my axillaries (armpits). And occasionally on my inner thighs, but only when I'm not on hormone stuff. I find that I am more prone to them near my TOM, or when I've been sweating a lot, or when I have to go more than two days without a shower.

Anyway, I've usually tried to pop them. But the axillary ones develop deep sometimes and HURT. So now I splash some witch hazel on my axillaries and inner thighs after each shower. It seems to hold them off. When I got them regularly under my breasts and pannus (the hanging "apron" of flesh at the bottom of the belly) I sometimes used Gold Bond medicated powder instead of my usual baby powder. But I hated the smell of it.

I get them all the time, I always thought they were ingrown hairs! What I do is pop them then clean with rubbing alcohol to kill whatever germs were in the pus.

I have a mystery autoimmune disease that is attacking my nose and sinuses (it may be in remission, we're not sure - but it caused a quarter-size whole in my nasal septum).

kaplods -

I had a friend in the situation you describe above and it was Wegner's granulomatosis, which is an autoimmune disorder.

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. After I slept last night, the one on my thigh seemed to go down and it doesn't hurt as much as it did yesterday. I don't know if the bath soak helped or not, but I also rubbed it a bit with some kind anti-bacterial stuff before I went to bed. I hope it is gone completely in a few days!

Sounds like some of you have them more often, or in more painful areas than I do (armpit - yikes!). I really feel for you. :(

Thanks BreakingFree, Wegner's was the prime suspect, but my rheumatologist and current ENT don't believe it is Wegner's because it is not progressing the way Wegner's generally does (no kidney or lung involvement yet, and none of the antibody tests were conclusive). Basically the doctors all say with autoimmune diseases you can't really name them until they do enough damage to identify them. If I'm lucky they say, there will never be enough damage to warrant a name. It's kind of stressful to hear - if we're lucky we'll never know what's wrong with you.

Colleen -

:hug: for you.

Hey guys hope all is well. There is a product out from Summers Eve that is like a lotion to powder and it is made for thigh "friction". Maybe try this and see if it helps. Anything is worth a try. Have a great weekend. kim