On one of the other threads I was reading I notice that the biggest complaint about being overweight is the boils that pop up everywhere and HURT!!

So I thought It would be nice to see how everyone deals with them and maybe we could help someone out there

As soon as I feel one coming on I use J/A/S/O/N cooling mineral gel with tea tree extract. And A Bandaid. As long as I catch the boil before it pops and change the bandaid once a day with more mineral gel on it. The boil usually goes away without bursting. Hope this helps anyone

I had boils forever, I'm talking years. Finally realized that my diabetes and my lack of controlling it were the cause of these. Since I now have better control of this problem, for the last 2 years I no longer get these.
Mine would be so big (sometimes golf ball size) and I could feel no relief until they burst.

I'm not sure that boils are a result of being overweight. I had my first boil a couple years ago and I recently felt a lump on my back and had my husband look at it because I thought it was a pimple. Its not red or anything but he said he thinks its a boil similar to the other one I had a couple years ago.

It may be that for some reason your body creates them easily.

Boils are usually caused by a staph infection of a hair follicle (a small cut or scratch may be the point of entry for the staph bacteria). Obesity can increase the risk of many skin infections (but does not cause them) for several reasons. Just having more skin, and the special problem of more skin friction. Skin rubbing together and moisture being trapped in skin folds can increase both the likelihood of skin damage (the moisture allows the bacteria to grow and the rubbing causes the break in the skin that allows the staph in to create the infection). Also, your immune system plays a role, as staph is on nearly everyone's skin and in their nose. Some people's body's may be better able to fight off staph than others.

The answer is in preventing both the bacterial growth and the chafing.

An antibacterial soap, frequent bathing, especially of skin fold areas, and careful drying are essential.

I used to get the occasional one on top of the stretch marks on my hips. I haven't had one lately and mind were tiny--like the size of a 1/2 a dime. But man, they can hurt!

I have rosacea, and I sometimes get them on my face when I use certain cosmetics/skin care products. (Oddly, my skin has reacted the most violently to a couple of products that are marketed for sensitive, rosacea-prone skin. Go figure.)

I never knew that boils are caused by obesity.

Obesity doesn't cause boils, a staph infection does. Staph is on the surface of almost everyone's skin, so anyone can get a boil. If you're prone to them, the key to preventing them is keeping the skin as clean and dry as possible.

A zinc oxide cream can help prevent skin infections in areas where you're prone to them (zinc kills fungi and bacteria). Zinc oxide can be bought at Walgreen's both as a diaper rash cream and as a generic "skin protectant" near the first aid creams. They're the same cream, just in a different box. Because zinc oxide creams are usually so thick and difficult to wash off your hands, I by the Johnson's zinc oxide diaper rash cream from Walmart (it's in a blue tube and says 3 in 1 formula). It isn't greasy and is more like a regular lotion. It also isn't as white, so if I use it on my face, I don't look like the world's fattest lifeguard or a circus clown. My dermatologist recommended it for a seb dermatitis rash I was getting as an indirect result of my autoimmune disease, and I love the stuff. At the first sign of any skin issue, from a small pimple to my rosacea to thigh chafing or under boob rash, I use this stuff and it works great. My skin is so much clearer than it's ever been (that and using Head and Shoulders with zinc pyrithione as a face and body wash - also a tip from my dermatologist. Zinc is my new best friend.

what the f???? LOL i've been fat for a longggggg time and I've never had a boil, what is it exactly??? oh wait - do you mean those zits on your face that are just big and red and sore but don't ever turn into anything? they just fade away? is it on your face or somewhere else? is that tmi??? i'm curious! maybe it's one of those things a person can be prone to, with or without being fat??

If your stomach can handle it, there are actually youtube vidoes of boils (all on skinny men, interestingly enough). They're bigger than any zit (like comparing a bengal tiger to a house cat kitten) , and they're deeper under the skin. A small boil is about the size of a marble, but they can get walnut sized and even bigger (although technically it then becomes a carbuncle, I believe).

And they can occur anywhere on the body that hair follicles exist, which is pretty much everywhere except the palms of your hand or soles of your feet.

trazy - I think what you're taking about is cystic acne. the 'underground' red sore bumps that come and never form anything. I use neostrata gycolic acid toner OR neosporin and a circle bandaid over top of it while I sleep. it's the only two things I've found to control the redness from getting worse.

as for boils.. never had. My diabetic mother does get them occasionally.

Boils are very painful. I last had one when I was 12 or 13 right on my butt my mother put a hot compress on it, as soon as that heat touched it I fainted dead away.

yoikes these sound horrifying!!! I haven't had a zit in years since i switched makeup actually (plug for Pur Minerals!! yay!) I don't think I'm brave enough for youtube video tho LOL

Yeah, I was pretty horrified when I googled boils and youtube came up in the search. Morbid curiosity got the better of me and I looked (and I do regret it).

I haven't suffered from a boil in about five years now, but I've had them three times, in roughly the same place: Right on my butt, right at the top of the crack. I found a more elegant name for them -- a pilonidal cyst. Apparently soldiers sitting in jeeps for extended periods of time used to get them frequently. They'd start with an irritated feeling, as though I'd scratched myself up there, and within a few days, they'd swell, and yes, it was a lot like a pimple, though far more painful. They pressed right into my tailbone, so sitting was extremely painful for me. Sitting on a hot washcloth in a really hot bathtub helped a bit.

The stench when they finally open up is memorable. If you smell it once, you will never forget it. Also, keep gauze & antibiotics on hand to keep it clean, because it's highly infectious & can spread elsewhere.

I felt shamefully alone with my affliction till I read David Sedaris, a fellow sufferer.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/200...041129fa_fact1

a friend of mine had a boil inside her hoohoo....I never understood why she told me.