To lance my own boil? (Disgusting, sorry)

[burstthefucker]

Have a huge boil - about the size of a plum . Been prescribed antibiotics for a week now as had associated cellulitis . GP hasn’t actually seen the boil or size, all diagnosed over the phone .

This morning it’s angry again and giving off fishy smelling pus ... Never smelt anything like it . It’s absolutely awful .

WIBU to get a sterile needle or something and just dig at a bit? Health centre said a nurse will ring later to discuss but surely if I can drain it that’s the problem solved ?

I had similar on my lower back. One week of antibiotics and it doubled in size. GP sent me to urgent care/AE for draining. I thought they would do it there and then but it had gone so deep I'd needed surgery, general anaesthetic and three weeks of packing the wound. It was horrible !

Magnesium sulphate paste if you must. Dh had a carbuncle and this was fantastic.

Do it now during easy opening hours in case it goes wrong. But the relief will be huge!

You can’t post something like this without photos.

I'd be very tempted to just pop it, however my friend had similar and there was a risk of sepsis and it all became very dramatic. I wouldn't do anything myself (despite the temptation.)

I think OP has been washed away in an explosion of pus. It's the only possible explanation.

When I presented to my GP with a groin abscess (pre covid) she told me to get to the surgical assessment unit at the hospital sharpish. They dealt with it there (bloody painful no anaesthetic) and I was given super strength antibiotics. They drew a line round the inflammation and told me to come back if the redness crossed the line. The wound was packed and I had to go and get it changed at GP practice every day for a couple of weeks. I suppose I am trying to say don't do it yourself.

@Lonecatwithkitten

Studies in cats ( who get far more abscesses) show that lancing and flushing is far, far more effective than antibiotics.

One of my best experiences ever was with DCat (sadly now died), he had an abscess from a bite wound.

Took him to vet. she took off the scab and squeezed 3 times, poor thing - it was amazing though - yellow/green poisoned pus first then white afterwards. He still had to have antibiotics though!

Placemarking in hope of a photo .
I mean, in hope of a positive update

If you ha e cellulitis absolutely don't do that. Were you not told that is a dangerous condition? Go to a centre.

Spoken to the nurse - it’s now wrapped in a poultice (bread at the moment) and still on flucloxacillin . If it hasn’t burst by next week they might lance it, but said I might well be able to get it sorted with just poultice or magnesium from chemist .

It stinks to high heaven and I’m not sure if the bread is making that worse but apparently that’s ‘totally normal’ .

Apparently so is the plum sized lump, said that could be a few weeks to go back to normal ...

Will try and get a decent photo - I’ve got some taken for GP surgery but nothing too gruesome sadly . The plum bit you can’t see - it’s just a big solid lump under the skin .

Fingers crossed for a decent pop later on !

Did the nurse actually see it? I'm not sure that the antibiotics are working if it isn't getting much better.

The red one was just before the antibiotics ... smaller one is today and finger and thumb is me holding the lump underneath ...

For such a small looking head it smells and feels absolutely awful .

Mmm, now I’m no professional, but next week? I know your on abs, but these things can go wrong pretty quick. Like everyone else said, hot soak, mag sulphate the fuck out of it, and draw a line showing the extent of redness. If it keeps spreading I’d be going to urgent care. Don’t mess about op. (Go find the thread about the bollicle. Terrifying and hilarious.

It's good that it's going down. I wouldn't interfere with that, now. There's inflammation there that needs time to reduce, not just infection.

I have Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS), which luckily is in abeyance at present. Boils from this could be up to large duck egg sized, burning hot & red all over. Usually groin or armpits. They could spent up to a week slowly draining on their own IF they felt like it at all.

GP would do nothing except ABs (flucloxacillin, like the OP), sometimes some dressings. Practice nurse advised the very hot flannel thing, which a) helped the pain and b) encouraged them to burst on their own. Best would be very hot flannel then in the shower (hot as bearable) and firm but gentle pressure e.g. with the flat of my hand over the area. 9/10 they would then burst & drain away in the shower. I once did this & had an entire handful of stinking pus but Gods the RELIEF!

PHOTOS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN!

DH has done this a few times, no problem at all. He boils his needles in water and then disinfects again with alcohol. Wash and disinfect the area around the boil, then grit your teeth and plunge the needle in. Squeeze gently unitl you have emptied your boil. clean and disinfect again.

It's not advised I'm sure but I'm terrible for doing things like it myself. I burnt myself a couple of years ago and stuck needles in the blisters.

Pink Lint!! Its what mum jsed on my childhood boil - lint pieces in near boiling (groan) water laid onto the boil to draw it and wipe any eacapkng pus away.

Pink lint was impregnated with boracic acid, an antiseptic.

escaping

Leave it alone! Please

go to a&e and get the surgical a&e to do it - don't leave it. I left one (I had a lovely city break to go on that weekend) and it got deep and was an absolute nightmare for 8 months!! as it didn't heal, kept getting infected and re-infected and growing over but not healing underneath etc.

Urgent care

Thirty years ago and I was due to give birth any day. In fact I did give birth the day after this happened! Long gone dearly loved cat developed an abscess on his ear from a cat bite. It was about the size of a ping pong ball. I knew I had to do something being nine months gone and no way of getting him to vets. Got hot water with loads of TCP in it (is that even available any more?) it stinks! Bathed the cat’s lug the abscess literally exploded with a load crack I have never known anything like it ! Completely drained and left a sort of inverted V shape behind. The house still smelled of TCP when I returned from hospital after the birth of my D.C. ha ha!