Although the name might be a little misleading, nothing boils under the skin when you have a boil, but I am sure you already knew that.

A boil is a lump that has been formed on your skin which is filled with pus and bacteria. They tend to be extremely painful, although not very dangerous to your overall health. One boil is not much of a problem as they heal spontaneously, but if you're really unlucky, you'll experience a bunch of them interconnected with each other.

If that's the case you might experience fever and some discharge coming out of them.

OK, so what do they actually look like?
Well, as I mentioned before, boils create lumps that are filled with a pus like looking substance. In some cases you might see a little dot formed by the pus especially when the boil is ready to discharge. They are not very big, usually 2-4 inches in diameter.

They usually occur on your forearms, lips, armpits, buttocks, thighs, nose or face, but those are not the only places where you can find them. They can form pretty much anywhere on your body.
How do you prevent Boils from occurring?

The number one thing you need to know about is keeping yourself clean. Due to the fact that boils are caused by bacteria, showering frequently and making sure you wash your hands throughout the day will tackle the problem in most cases.

If you already have a boil, don't pick on it or squeeze it. Just let it be until it disappears remembering that you should wash the area around the boil gently with water. Generally speaking, keep the area around the boil clean and be sure that there is air coming to it. Again, try not to pay too much attention to it and hopefully you should be able to forget about it entirely. I don't remember about mine when they do happen sometimes.

By no means should you scratch them as this will cause the bacteria inside the boil to spread and will give you more boils in the future. Those little stinkers can itch like crazy, but do all you can to actually ignore it.

When I say stinkers, I am not joking here. Due to the pus inside it, boils can give out a nasty smell which can be quite irritating, but will disappear entirely as soon as the boil is gone.

Taking care of and preventing boils can be tough if you don't know what you're doing. I am sure that if you follow the tips that I have outlined above, you'll not only be able to spot a boil right when it first forms, but you'll also make sure that they never ever come back, which is obviously a good thing!