Questions in The Dermatology Forum are being answered by Dr. A. Rockoff , a board certified dermatologist, affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine . I have had boils for the past two months, and have been prescribed three courses of anti-biotics, which have worked on a short term basis only. The boils keep appearing in large numbers.
Boils are a tough problem, to have and to treat.
I often see them in people who don't have eczema or any other obvious reason to get a break in the skin. Oral antibiotics don't eradicate these. You may need another round of oral antibiotics to suppress the boils you have. Some of my patients can't get by without longer-term oral antibiotics. This need not be a problem, since the ones which help aren't broad-spectrum and don't suppress the immunue system or make people susceptible to yeast infections.