Blunt thread title I know but I’ve had mine for about a month now and it doesn’t seem to want to take a holiday. Two courses of antibiotics have failed and on my third visit to the GP quacker just said ‘oh carry on as normal, it’ll probably stay there like that and won’t get any worse.’ Biggest bunch of *bullshit! I’ve heard anyone say for a long time.

So… How do people get rid ? Is an attempted lancing worth it or will I end up on the operating table with a surgeon finishing the job properly ? Give up running as well as cycling ? Running has been keeping me sane for the last few weeks whilst I can't do any decent bike rides but I know it still causes sweat and probably isn’t helping Mr. Boily. Answers from the STW oracle please…

These things seem to get me every summer and Im yet to find a prevention. Chlorhexidine usually keeps them at bay as well as avoiding thick padded shorts but not this time.

For info:

Complications of Staph Infections:
Folliculitis and Boils
Folliculitis is an infection of hair follicles, tiny pockets under the skin where hair shafts (strands) grow. In folliculitis, tiny white-headed pimples appear at the base of hair shafts, sometimes with a small red area around each pimple. This infection often occurs in areas where there's been friction or irritation.

Folliculitis often clears up on its own with good skin hygiene. Sometimes, it can progress to become a boil. With a boil, the staph infection spreads deeper and wider, often affecting the skin's subcutaneous tissue (deeper tissue under the skin) and the oil-producing glands, which are called sebaceous glands. In the first stage, the area of skin either begins to itch or becomes mildly painful. Next, the skin turns red and begins to swell over the infected area. Finally, the skin above the infection becomes very tender and a whitish "head" may appear. The head may break, and the boil may begin to drain pus, blood, or an amber-colored liquid. Boils can occur anywhere on the skin, especially under the arms or on the groin or buttocks.

Nice.

Fanks,
Kev

Quinoderm worked for me

thanks but I've just checked Quinoderm and the active ingredient is benzyl peroxide. I've tried products containing this before – admittedly with higher concentrations (Oxy-10) but it irritated my skin and caused an allergic reaction. Not something I want on my arse ever again ! So I'll have to give it a miss.

ta
Kev

Get it squeezed – it'll hurt like ****, but will be gone in a couple of days

I have to go for a blood test to see if I'm diabetic or not (doubt very much I am, would've noticed by now) so maybe I could get one of the day nurses at the surgery to do it… unless there are any stw volunteers ?

….

didn't think so.

IIRC someone recommended a hot bath before any squeezing to make it easier.

If it's a repeated problem try finding something else to wash your shorts in (antibacterial??) or wash them at 60C+

If you cant reach it, then try a drawing ointment, something like icthamol.

However there's nothing as satisfying as a good squeeze (prep it up by squeezing it a bit for a couple of days first to get it ready, then one big squeeze and POP its done)

try to avoid lancing/squeezing it yourself. Antibiotics usually sort it but obviously not in your case. Wash shorts well, dry inside out, use M.A.L.,maybe consider using something like Hibiscrub in the shower.

Two different aspects – one is curing this one. The other is preventing more occuring. Nothing you put on your skin will alter this one. Do you just have a hard lump or is it still infected – ie red and sore? You often get left with a hard lump afterwards that can stay for weeks.

If its still infected antibiotics are the only answer. what antibiotics were you given? Flucloxacillin is the drug of choice and you might well need a longer course – 10 – 14 days. Hygeine is not a large part of it strangely as the bugs are normally present on your skin. Washing with hibiscrub might reduce the amounts of bugs on your skin. Obviously wash whatever you are wearing after every ride and wash yourself before and after every ride. think about using natural fibres next to the skin not synthetics. synthetics hold sweat and bugs more.

Oh – "this thread is useless without pics" 🙂

😆 😆 Try using Assos Chamois cream to try and prevent more sores.I read somewhere its best not to burst them but its so tempting!

Get it squeezed , and please NO PICS

Vodka. Partly for anaesthetic properties and partly as a sterilising fluid, on a needle to get into it. Then set to work on it squeezing as hard as you can.

And as I always say with this advice – just as the darkest hour is just before the dawn, just before it pops it will hurt excrutiatingly. No escaping that fact.

And lastly – fi you try this and it doesn't work, when you see your doctor again don't for christ's sake say that a bloke on the internet told you to do it.

keva,you have my sympathy.Boils and then a hernia lead to me difting away from mountain bikes a few years ago.
I had the blood tests,I'm not diabetic. Had a few courses of antibiotics(can't remember which ones). They would clear up and then flare up again.Had them on my arse and thighs,sometimes a few at a time.Felt unwell for about 3 months. Some would come to a head and had to be squeezed and cleaned up.Some of the feckers had a core,a couple of inches long.Nice! Others would stay red,hurt like hell and then subside.
I became obsessive with personal hygiene,Hibiscrub was my arse-wash of choice. Thankfully,they eventually stopped re-appearing and thankfully haven't returned.
I returned to MTBing about 18 months ago,i use Asoss cream and wear their bibshorts in the warmer months.This probably doesn't make a scrap of difference,but I feel as though I'm being pro-active and the shorts are the comfiest I've used.
Good luck in your battle against the boils!

A few years ago,

A small lump the size of a pea appeared on my buttock,a bit painful, just a pimple.

I had a week off work feeling really ill flu like symptoms, went back to work, and collapsed in work, in a customers house.

Phoned the GP got an appointment the next day, by this time the lump had got to about 3 inches long very painful,and red.
Went to gps told him how i felt,high temperature etc,and as an afterthought mentioned the lump,lets have a look said he.

Ok said me and dropped my jeans,he put on his gloves, tutted and said you need to go straight to hospital NOW!

Total shock.

He wanted me to go by ambulance.

Went home and my mate drove me to hospital.

After various blood tests was told i was very anaemic, needed blood transfusion,and anti biotics, had 4 bags of blood overnight,felt very ill.

Next day taken down to theatre,operated on left with a 4 inch scar, 1 inch deep that cant be stiched, went home the next day,for the next 7 weeks had the district nurses coming every day to wash the wound and repack it, embarssing and painful,couldnt cycle or sit properly.
eventually i was allowed to cycle, very painful at first but as time went on the pain went.

Sorry this thread is so long ,but i could have died of that infection,according to the GP and sadly a lad did die locally due to a similar infection, the difference was he was an injecting drug user,and injecting into his groin,where as i am just a cyclist.

Iodine dressing might work – I know somebody for whom it did.
.
.
.

😯MY EYES!!,MY EYES!! 😯

Hairychested,less of your home photo collection, thanks….

My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

have you been swabbed for PVL?

Non cycling mate had a similar story to project above a couple of months ago.

Surgeon removed 160ml of pus before packing it up. Not much help to you, just thought it was pretty impressive though.

One of the Tour riders whose names escapes me at the moment, failed to get a boil treated. when he finally did….. they drained a pint of fluid from the infection.
I think you best get to the Dr.

Magnesium sulphate BP.
Give it a good stir and apply to said boil and cover with a plaster.
Mag Sulph draws the pus out. Works a treat when you 1st discover a boil or zit before it has time to "bloom" and gets rid quick.

da funk

Forgot to mention the pain, before and after the large incision, and the embarasement of it all.

FFS stop asking a bunch of MTB'ers medical questions and get back to the DOCTOR's and demand that something is done about your arse!

On a non medical note try a more comfortable saddle. The amount of people I see riding bikes with a race saddle cos it looks good and matches their Super dooper Full sus carbon H/T do everything bike, then when they get off they hobble to the car crippled!

Good Luck its a pi$$er when you can't ride.

No direct advice re boils, but to anyone that's got irritated follicles, bumps from spots/boils etc etc then I would recommend some of this stuff: http://www.tendskin.com/tendskin.htm

Especially for anyone who shaves… wherever 😉

Oh and I'd be squeezing/pricking/lancing… but I can't leaving anything like that alone!

And re prevention (for anyone) – keep you arse and your shorts clean (wash them both). Reducing the source of infection (ie your shit from your arse and whatever has been festering in your shorts) is really important. And use a decent chammy cream. Assos, Elite Ozone etc all have anti-bacterial stuff as well as reducing chaffing/irritation.

It is not shit bugs – its normal skin bacteria that cause these boils. Not E coli but Staf Aureaus ( sp)

Do not lance or squeeze yourself – if it needs doing go to minor injuries clinic – they should have gas to kill the pain and can do it cleanly and effectivly.

A pint of pus – I don't believe it

Some of the stuff described in these posts are not biols – they are pilonidal sinuses – a different thing altogether

I'd say it's worth getting it checked out.

I had what I thought was a large headless spot on my arse for the best part of a year. It would fluctuate in size depending on how much riding I was doing, and eventually started to squirt fine jets of bloody pus when given a right good squeezing. It didn't really hurt as such, but its presence on my body was just a bit wrong.

Being male, I was reluctant to go to the doctor, but the missus forced me to make an appointment. Diagnosis: sebaceous cyst.

A course of antibiotics did nothing but keep me off the booze for a week, so back I went to see the doctor, who referred me to a specialist. And so it came to pass that I had to go under the knife.

By the day of the operation, the cyst was about the size of a golf ball. Given its close proximity to my backeye, I made sure I underwent a thorough arse-washing ritual before arriving at the hospital and changed into the paper underpants I'd been provided.

In theatre, the surgeon administered the local anaesthetic, which involved repeatedly stabbing around the cyst with a needle. Now THAT hurt. He then fecked off for fifteen minutes, leaving the room door wide open and providing a number of waiting visitors with a great view of me, lying on my side with my ringpiece pointing straight at them.

Prior to getting busy with the scalpel, the surgeon explained that, if the cyst was infected, he'd have to leave the wound open rather than stitching it back up. This would allow my body to chase out the infection. After the first incision, we both knew it was infected – him because he was looking at it, and me because I was now lying in a pool of pus.

Anyway, the conclusion was that the wound was left open and filled with surgical packing. A district nurse arrived at my house the following day to change this, but with the aid of a mirror placed on the bathroom floor I learned how to swap the packing and do the dressing myself. Ten days later I left the wound undressed and it was fully healed inside a month. Cycling was a wee bit sore for the first couple of months, but it's absolutely fine now.

Sadly, it's not really left a scar that I can show off down the pub.

i feel for you all

hot weather + cycling =spots for me too.. must be more hygenic = mental note to self

paul