boil, a staphylococcus skin infection characterized by an inflamed nodular swelling filled with pus, located at the site of a hair follicle. The lesion is painful and feels hard to the touch; healing begins after the pus is discharged. Boils are usually located in hairy body areas exposed to friction and maceration, such as the back of the neck, the face, armpits, buttocks, and groin. A sty is a boil located at the base of an eyelash. A carbuncle is an aggregation of adjoining boils with several centers of pus collection.
Existing skin disorders that lead to scratching may favour the entrance of the staphylococci into hair follicles, with resulting boil formation. Any general lowered state of health may also predispose individuals to furunculosis, although the condition also affects healthy people. Some individuals seem more susceptible to boils than others, and in them the boils tend to recur. Ordinarily treatment is unnecessary, other than the use of measures to keep the affected area clean and protected from further infection. In more severe cases, antibiotics are usually effective. When boils occur in a patient at a hospital in which penicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections are endemic, they may constitute a serious medical problem, particularly when the patients are aged or debilitated.