Boil or carbuncle?!
Question: Can some one please tell me what is the difference between a boil and a carbuncle?
Answers: Can some one please tell me what is the difference between a boil and a carbuncle?
A boil usually appears suddenly as a painful pink or red bump that's generally not more than 1 inch in diameter. The surrounding skin also may be red and swollen.
Within a few days, the bump fills with pus. It grows larger and more painful for about five to seven days, sometimes reaching golf ball size before it develops a yellow-white tip that finally ruptures and drains. Boils generally clear completely in about two weeks. Small boils usually heal without scarring, but a large boil may leave a scar.
A carbuncle is a cluster of boils that often occurs on the back of the neck, shoulders or thighs, especially in older men. Carbuncles cause a deeper and more severe infection than single boils do. In addition, carbuncles develop and heal more slowly and are likely to leave a scar. Carbuncles sometimes occur with a fever.
Short answer:
A boil is a tender, red, pus filled lump, generally caused by an infected hair follicle.
A carbuncle consists of several boils.
Both are antique terminology (a boil is a furuncle, several carbuncle but people may use carbuncle for one anyway); nowdays most people call them abscesses.