Boil
Boils are tender inflamed areas of skin that contain pus and can occur anywhere on the body.
A boil is a type of abscess of the skin. The word boil is the common name for a dermatological lesion, whose medical name is furuncle.
The infection that causes a boil (also known as a furuncle) is usually caused by the bacterium staphylococcus aureus, which may have entered the skin via a hair follicle, a break in the skin, or a local injury such as a cut, scratch, or puncture wound.
Boils usually heal quickly, either after the pus has been released or with antibiotic treatment. Low resistance to infection can result in increasingly stubborn boils.
See also skin conditions and disorders (all on one page). This may interest students of massage, reflexology, holistic treatments of various types, beauty therapies, and other health related courses.
Further information about skin includes the structure of skin (with diagram), an explanation of what dermatology means and includes and textbooks about dermatology.
