5 year old with persistant boils

my DD had her first boil on her bottom cheek about 3 months ago. she had antibiotics and it popped itself. it healed very quickly. a few weeks later she got another one on a different area of her bottom, not as bad (because i took her to the GP sooner as i knew what it was this time) he said to give her two courses of antibiotics thinking that she may have needed a longer dose the first time round. so 12 days of anti botics later and all was good again. a week afer that a smaller one appeared on her chin, a different GP said to rub bactroban cream on it and indeed this healed it up quickly also. now another 2 weeks later she has another one near her vagina. i am taking her to the GP this afternoon but i am starting to think these things are never going to go away. mostly i am worried about the amount of antibiotics that she has had over the last few months also.

we have been using a special antibacterial soap (sapoderm) ever since the first boil but other than that its just antibiotics.

is there anything else i can do as a preventative?... what can i do if she gets one instead of antibiotics? why are the continually coming back?

Sounds like a staff infection ... I had one about ten years ago and they are not fun!

Here are some things we had to do to get rid of it ...

- Use a clean towel everytime you have a shower and definitely no towel sharing
- Change bedsheets daily
- Regular baths in salt water (they can sting once the boil opens up)
- Keep even unopened boils covered to try and prevent spread
- We had to put bettadine inside our noses to stop the germs being airborn. Don't know if that helped me get over it or stopped other people getting them.
- Regularly disinfect any surfaces in the house
- Use betadine on any mosquito bites, scratches, grazes - anything that can possibly become infected
- Washing hands before we ate
- We were also putting bicarb paste (water and bicarb powder) on the boils (under bandaids) before they opened up to try and bring the infection to the surface.
- Changing dressings regularly throughout the day.

Generally we just had to use extremely vigilent hygeine to make sure that we weren't spreading the germs further or reinfecting ourselves. I wasn't playing with toys at the time, but I would be throwing all her toys into a big bath of disinfectant every couple of days as well. It's a huge job but really important. I realise you are probably doing a lot of that already, but thought I would put it in anyway.

I had my infection on and off for about 18 months before it finally went away for good. It was really painful and I have scars on my body from some of the boils. It really was horrible. I hope your DD recovers much faster than I did. Good luck.

My DD had something similar. It turned out it was golden staph :( she ended up in hospital for four days on IV antibiotics :(

If it is reappearing after ABs, ask to be tested for resistant strains otherwise it will be an uphill battle.

Good luck!

oh no your poor DD!! did the antibiotics not clear them up and they just got worse leading up to the hospital stay? or did they clear up and just keep coming back? the GP isnt too worried at this stage for us.

I know :rolleyes: It wasn't fun :(


She had 12 courses of ABs in 12 months for infections - styes, callesions, infected mozzie bites, cold sores...in the end she developed acute cellulitis from a mozzie bite on her knee. The oral ABs were only a very temporary fix.

I thought everything was good but I have just noticed today she has impetigo around her nose and face (she has been away for a week). We have a follow up appointment with the hospital paediatrician on Friday so I am guessing more ABs :( in the meantime I am washing her in micro bacterial wash and using bactroban AB ointment. Hopefully that will help :(

Bloody staph...grrrrrr

Glad to hear the doctor isn't concerned about your little one :)

it is a big worry hey! :-( your poor little one! my GP seems to think that once she goes through a few incidences then her body will have an immunity to them and she shouldnt get them again. fingers crossed. he also said i should get her urine tested to see if she has any sugars in it. i think children with diabetes are predisposed to getting boils. but i dont think she has. hope not anyways.

i have had reoccurring/persistent boils for the last two years :( - i've lost count of the amount of AB's i've taken, which seem to help for about 6 months and then another flare up happens...they are horrible. i'm insulin resistant so i know mine are caused due to elevated sugars. with the bactroban, i had to apply it to the boils as well as inside my nose as apparently that is where the staph bug lives. having said all that, i haven't had any for nearly 12 months now but i really feel for your DD :(


as JM said, ensuring everything is clean (daily washing of bedding, towels etc) is very important to help stop the spread of infection. Also ensuring that when the boil does burst, it is covered to ensure that the pus draining does not infect other areas in its vicinity.

i hope they clear up for your DD soon :hug: