"And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered." (Biblical quotation) While I can’t vouch for the benefit of figs for the treatment of boils, I can attest to the efficacy of homeopathic medicine.
Timely homeopathic treatment of boils can often preclude the need for both incision and drainage of the boil and antibiotics. Once the need for treatment of a boil is recognized, it is suggested that attempts at homeopathic self care be limited to 2-3 days after which traditional medical care should be sought if there has been no improvement. During this time if high fever or local extension of the inflammation occur, medical care should also be sought.
The correct homeopathic remedy will cure the boil by either quickly aborting the formation of pus and reversing the boil, or by causing the abscess to open and drain pus until resolved.
Homeopathic Remedies Dosage: One dose of 30C every 3-4 hours until definite evidence of improvement is apparent; then discontinue use, repeating if there is a relapse. If there has been no improvement within one day, choose a different remedy.
Hepar sulphuris: These boils are exquisitely sensitive, the slightest touch being almost intolerable. Warm applications provide some relief. The purulent (pus) discharge is often thick and offensive in odor, smelling like rotten cheese or sour. Paronychia — infections about the nails — are often helped with this remedy. Boils that recur in the same location suggest this remedy.
Silica: Slowly developing abscesses are typical of Silica, as are boils that form around foreign bodies (splinters and such). Boils are usually hard (indurated). Draining pus, if present, tends to be thin and offensive. While any location can pertain, the thighs, tear ducts, Bartholin glands (near the vulva), and lymph glands are sites especially common to Silica.
Calcarea sulphurica: This remedy is especially indicated for boils that discharge for a very long time — weeks or months. The pus tends to be creamy and yellow.
Sulphur: Recurring boils. As soon as one boil resolves another emerges. The buttocks are a common site for Sulphur abscesses. The discharge is yellow and offensive, and occasionally contains air bubbles.
Tarentula cubensis: Severely burning, inflamed abscess; boils that are discolored black or with a black core.
Anthracinum: Severe burning in the boil, which is large and tense. The boil may be black or purplish. Boils may form in clusters.
Arsenicum album: Yet another common remedy for boils with burning pains, pains which are ameliorated by warm applications. Pustules that are black or filled with blood. There may be considerable restlessness with the pains.
Arnica: Crops of small boils which do not fully develop; they slowly resolve and then recur repeatedly. The entire area involved is very sore to touch.
Belladonna: This remedy is indicated early in the formation of a boil, during the period of early inflammation. Boils tend to be deep within the skin. The overlying area is bright red and hot. These boils are very painful and typically throb. Touch and jarring hurt very much. Most often Belladonna boils are located on the right side of the body.
Lachesis: Indicated for very painful boils of a dark, purplish hue. These boils tend to form on the left side of the body. Warmth aggravates.
Mercurius: Inflamed boils with burning and stinging pains. The boil tend to ulcerate and discharge foul-smelling pus. Associated general symptoms may include: trembling, sweating, drooling (especially at night), alternating sensations of heat and cold, and worsening of symptoms at night.
