Infection on Bottom Heel
Infection on bottom heel with penny-sized pus circle under skin, fifty-cent coin sized redness
I have an infection on the bottom of my heel. I did not notice it was an infection for over a month because I am so used to other foot pain like plantar fasciitis pain from cold temperatures. Blisters formed over and around it, which I bandaged still not noticing the infection. Soon the moisture of the bandaging and foot sweat allowed the lurking absess to open and pus came out when I was changing the bandaging. I soaked it in peroxide for a short while, apparently not long enough, and put iodine on it, and covered it again hoping that was it. It came back even more painfully two days later, with about a fifty-cent piece size overall including redness and the penny-size of whiteness deep uner the skin that I am assuming is pus. It is warm and the whole heel is swollen, although it is not horrific to view. Two Aleve cut the pain to the point I can walk on without much issue, but I need this thing to go away altogther because I cannot keep taking Aleve, I take too much already. Further up the foot, a boil (I guess it is a boil---it looks like a large pustule) formed under the bandaging of some other blisters, probably from something getting caught under the bandage and working into my skin.
I have read over many "skin infection" remedies here, such as potato, DMSO/iodine, etc. I was wondering if there is any special way to treat this since it is a partially open sore with buried pus. It might be an abscess ON TOP OF ANOTHER abscess. Is there any way to avoid needing to lance these myself? Should proceed with a hot epsom soak, iodine/DMSO, or a potato wrap? Or something else? Can I do the same treatment for both abscess and boil? THANK YOU!!!
P.S. Does a potato poultice need to be an organic potato? Thank you!
Tokyo
03/01/2025
Make sure it is not melanoma
TN
03/01/2025
Dear Amelie,
A grated potato does not have to be organic. I have used this remedy with a basic white potato. It was probably a Russet and was surprisingly effective.
It sounds like you have a staph infection the way it is spreading. Please watch for red streaks or fever as those would be signs that you should get emergency attention. If the infection gets into your blood you could become septic.
Your infection sounds serious and you may need to add some other remedies. I have dealt with staph infections with my kids and they can be stubborn.
It would be best to give up all sugars as they suppress your body's healing response. (Fruit in moderation is okay.) Adding milk kefir to your diet, or a quality yogurt will help, too.
Take 4 capsules of turmeric 4 times a day with a full glass of water each time. My daughter recently healed a boil with turmeric alone (and she doesn't use much sugar ever.)
The grated potato remedy is good. Honey can also be used as a topical. I have mixed it with the grated potato. It is antibacterial.
Soaking with Epsom salt once or twice a day is a good idea.
Is it possible you are diabetic? Not realizing you have sores on your feet is sometimes indicative of that.
Let me know how it goes.
~Mama to Many~
TN
03/01/2025
Dear Amelie,
A grated potato does not have to be organic. I have used this remedy with a basic white potato. It was probably a Russet and was surprisingly effective.
It sounds like you have a staph infection the way it is spreading. Please watch for red streaks or fever as those would be signs that you should get emergency attention. If the infection gets into your blood you could become septic.
Your infection sounds serious and you may need to add some other remedies. I have dealt with staph infections with my kids and they can be stubborn.
It would be best to give up all sugars as they suppress your body's healing response. (Fruit in moderation is okay.) Adding milk kefir to your diet, or a quality yogurt will help, too.
Take 4 capsules of turmeric 4 times a day with a full glass of water each time. My daughter recently healed a boil with turmeric alone (and she doesn't use much sugar ever.)
The grated potato remedy is good. Honey can also be used as a topical. I have mixed it with the grated potato. It is antibacterial.
Soaking with Epsom salt once or twice a day is a good idea.
Is it possible you are diabetic? Not realizing you have sores on your feet is sometimes indicative of that.
Let me know how it goes.
~Mama to Many~
SC
03/03/2025
Thank you for responding! I could not find the grater so I combined microplaned and chopped potato in a poultice. I put it on before bed. I wrapped cling wrap around it and taped it in place, and then tied a brown plastic bag around my foot to control the juice spreading everywhere. I woke up three hours later with my heel throbbing painfully. My residence has a mold problem, lots of mildew, and I was questioning leaving the perishable wet potato on my foot. So I took off the poultice and it felt better without it. Is it normal for it to hurt like that with the poultice on? I can actually walk around on the infected heel with almost no pain once I stand on it for a while. I hope that means it's not so serious. The reason I did not notice the problem is that it started during very cold temperatures and my feet already hurt from plantar fasciitis, neuropathy, bunions, and just the cold itself, so it just kind of blended in to the ambient pain. Although I am probably pre-diabetic. I do not have good cirulation since I stopped exercising (pain issues, adrenal fatigue, etc). Do you mean turmeric powder? I am planning to try again with the potato, but with slices with scoring, so I can do it during the day too without so much mess. Then, I hope to do a very strong Epsom salt soak for several hours and hopefully be able to lance the abscess and then clean it with peroxide, and add colloidal silver gel. I have treated many abscesses with success, on my fingers, and also on my feet, but this one is particularly difficult due to its location on my heel. Dropping sugar intake is a good idea, although the only sugar I have is dried cranberries and dark chocolate in moderation. Should I drop cheese and corn chips as well? Is there any hope I'll be able to avoid cutting this open? Thanks again for responding. I will definitely let you know what happens.
SC
03/03/2025
PS. How often should I change the grated potato? (I found a cuisinart attachment I can use for grating). Is it OK to place a large handful of potato gratings into a large ziploc/slider plastic bag, put my foot in that, and kind of tie off the excess bag with some tape to help keep it in place? Then I could march around doing things I need to do while wearing a potato boot, without dripping all over the place. Please let me know if this is OK.
SC
03/04/2025
PPS. Will pus always come to the surface (using the potato method), or can an infection go away without the pus coming to the surface? How will I know the infection is gone for good? What is the best way to clean the opening if pus does emerge? Can I put more potato on it if it is open and pus is coming out? How do I finalize the procedure after using the potato gratings? Should I soak the area in peroxide, apply iodine, etc.? Again, thank you so much for communicating with me, it is very helpful! :)
Michigan
03/03/2025
Check this article first.
SIGNS THAT COULD BE MELANOMA ON YOUR FOOT https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/skin-cancer/types/common/melanoma/signs-foot
Dallas
03/04/2025
Please see a doctor if you have a serious infection. Members of the EC community are not qualified to answer these questions. You don't want sepsis to develop.
SC
03/04/2025
Hello Jack! I appreciate your concern. I do not think this is serious. I can walk on it without much discomfort. If the methods suggested here do not work, I will see a doctor, but so far as I have read, this potato drawing method is better than anything a doctor would prescribe. I have been prescribed damaging pharma in the past, and my health has improved ONLY because of information sites such as this one. For instance, I was prescribed Prozac for what turned out to be low HCL/low digestive enzymes/poor stomach function. I was given Zyrtec for nerve damage. I was offered birth control for a parasitic infection. Etc. Hopefully the potato will work as well for me as it has for others! I will post here if it does. :)
Tokyo
03/05/2025
A friend of mine had melanoma on her foot near her big toe. It did not hurt, did not bother her at all, her husband thought it was a weird looking thing so they went to a dermatologist. The first dermatologist did not recognise melanoma for they are trained that melanomas are caused by the Sun exposure, when in fact the opposite is true. They had a second opinion and indeed it was melanoma. Her toe was chopped off, she recovered. Few years later she had a benign brain tumour removed. She recovered. She moved to Latin America since then and I lost touch with her. Everything is connected in our bodies even though a melanoma and a brain tumour seem to have different causes. It won't hurt to at least make sure your foot infection is not an external manifestation of an internal malignancy. The way u describe your infection doesn't look good to me, especially on your foot, a rather weird place for a sudden severe infection. Better be safe than sorry.
SC
03/05/2025
Hello! This is very interesting information, and I am glad to know about this kind of melanoma. However, the infection is definitely from my skin cracking open from dryness or stepping on a small sharp object. It happened during very cold and dry weather. This has happened from a sharp pebble, a few winters ago. I get abscesses on my fingers if I foolishly pick at a piece of dead skin around my fingernail. So far the potato treatment has made an improvement in the heel problem, and hopefully the boil will be treated as well in a similar fashion. Currently have a Ziploc full of grated potato on my foot for a second treatment. I will be keeping the melanoma information in mind moving forward. There is a neighbor who had a toe removed for that very reason. I appreciate your response! :)
The EU
03/07/2025
Add LDN to your regime. Your body immune system is not working properly. LDN Doesn't interfere with any other treatment. It is not the medicine that cures, it is what this medicine does to ones body so that the body itself starts healing what is broken. And the body knows. Not sure why it is still not prescribed along with other treatments. Dirt cheap, $90/3mo, no side effects, prepared in a compounding pharmacy. An allopathic doctor still doesn't know the difference between naltrexone and low dosage naltrexone. Not just shameful, it is criminal.
https://ldnresearchtrust.org/conditions
Seabuckthorn oil has anti-inflammatory properties. Add it to your regime (externally). Make sure it not made for cosmetic purposes. Read about the oil here: https://siberiantigernaturals.com/siberian-sea-buckthorn-oil/
SC
03/07/2025
Thank you! I will add these to my list of stuff to research! I appreciate the link and suggestions, I will definitely learn more about these! I will add that my current residence has a mold problem, and that is likely a big part of my current condition. So if you have any ideas how to deal with that while I earn money to relocate, please share!
SC
03/09/2025
The grated potato cleared my heel infection quickly, although I was surprised how undramatic it was, no pus coming out or anything. I then started treating a boil on the bottom of my arch that was swollen to size of quarter with a visible head of pus under the skin, using slices of white potato cling-wrapped and taped to my foot (I started with a turmeric/baking soda paste but this was not working fast enough for my liking so I switched to potato). The pus is gone now, leaving behind a red hole 2/3 the size of a pencil eraser. However, it is still red and swollen and painful in the surrounding area. I taped another piece of potato over the hole. Should I just keep replacing the potato slice until the swelling is gone? And after that, how should this be finalized? I think there is a very tiny white thing left in the center of the red hole, and I hope the potato pulls it out. Thank you for any assistance in bringing this reign of terror to an end!
I am using slices to make sure if some foreign object gets pulled out of this boil, that it will stay in place held by the slice, rather than squish out and bother some other part of my foot. That is why I am not using grated potato. Should I be concerned about this? Would this be a better process if I used the very juicy but very squishy and hard-to-control grated potato? I have to walk on this thing so there is no way a poultice would not evntually break open and empty its contents onto the rest of my foot. I appreciate any feedback!
TN
03/10/2025
Dear Amelie,
Good job on your progress in healing yourself! I think you should go with your intuition regarding the slice of potato to completely resolve the issue on your foot. You can also try alternating it with honey. We used honey to heal bedsores on my mother.
Keep us posted!
~Mama to Many~
SC
03/10/2025
Hello! I am going to continue with the slices for now and see if the pain goes away. I now have a sore area on the side of my foot where irritation has occurred from the wrappings I employ for the boil. I put a slice of potato on that too, but it resulted in the irritated area turning red with some darker, more purpley blotches. Maybe the potato has drawn blood to the surface? I will be considering a full grated potato soak, or Epsom salt soak, or peroxide soak, in a few days. I do not have any honey right now but I do have iodine and colloidal silver gel. You mean Manuka honey, right? I should get some to have on hand for the future.
TN
03/10/2025
It does not have to be Manuka honey. It can be...but we have just used the highest quality available at the time. Honestly, in desperation we used a generic honey for my mom's sores in a pinch and it was effective.
~Mama to Many~
If it was me, I'd put a puppy pee pad on the floor in front of my favorite chair (mine's an old office lobby chair) so my feet touch the ground. On that, I would put two clean rags folded to the size of both feet and make myself a cuppa plain old plantain tea. Then I'd drink half and pour the rest, along with the solids, onto the rags, kick off my socks and put my feet on the warm tea soaked rags.
OR, if I was using regular plantain leaf teabags, I'd make my tea, tuck the used bag into a cotton sock, use some tape to keep it where I want it, cover with plastic and put my sock over it and just leave it all day. Give it a chance to breakup the inflammation and get in there to clean things up.
Yes, it will disperse the inflammation and the body will clean up smaller bits but it will be doing that all over. If you can adjust your feet and rebound, I'd definitely do that. 2 minutes of baby bouncing on the rebounder will triple your white blood cell count for an hour. Then after an hour, another 2 minutes until it clears up. Then I'd continue doing that -just like with the cancer rebound protocol.
I wouldn't want that much inflammation, swollen and sitting still, clogging things up.
SC
03/11/2025
Thank you for this information! I will add it to my notes. Right now the potato has been effective, I just need to finalize the treatment with peroxide or something. I agree that rebounding is a good idea, but right now I cannot exercise due to injury (several, a long story not necessary here). Ever since I stopped jogging a year and a half ago, things have gotten more difficult. But I had to stop, for many reasons. Anyhow, I appreciate your suggestions! :)
You can actually just gently bounce on the edge of your bed. That's what I did while I waited for my back-ordered rebounder when I lost so much strength so quickly after having "the bug" that I could barely stand. By the time my rebounder arrived, not only could I stand and walk, but was actually able to get the delivered rebounder into the house and set up on my own. It took me nearly all afternoon, but I did it!
It was amazing! One day I'm scrambling to get my affairs in order as best I could in preparation for going to the nursing home and within just a couple of days, I'm back on my feet and dragging that 40 lb box of heavy duty rebounder into the house and assembling it all by myself!
Amsterdam
03/13/2025
Add red light therapy to your remedies. There are affordable small panels available such as mito-red mini ( I use it daily, even for heart pain, but use Red mode for heart and eyes, for pain I use Red and IFR)
https://www.lighttherapyinsiders.com/best-budget-red-light-therapy-panel/
SC
03/14/2025
I actually have an incandescent red light from Rubylux. Should I just bask in the red light in general, or aim it at my feet? I want to start adding red light to my habits, but am having difficulty finding an adjutable fixture to use with the bulb. Clamp lamps are clumsy and difficult for me to arrange properly.
SC
03/14/2025
Boil seems to be healing but now I seem to have a chemical burn/dermatitis
I removed the potato so my foot could dry up and the pus hole could heal. I had already developed some irritation on my foot where the cling wrap/medical tape/paper towel "boot" had been (I made a paper towel boot to contain some of the potato juice), to the point I had put a piece of potato over that too. I dipped my foot into about 2 inches of peroxide for a few minutes to kill any remaining bacteria, squished Lugol's iodine into the empty pus hole until I felt it sting, then wiped the whole foot off, put colloidal silver gel over the boil area, and put a bandaid over it. The next day my whole foot was swollen, the parts that had been irritated were bright red, and everywhere the peroxide had been was covered in little red dots that look like dermatitis. Meanwhile, the boil is leaking a bit of clear/pinkish fluid and apparently that is a good sign. It is really painful, the whole situation, and it is mildly swollen, but only dark red where the friction had occurred with various dressings. I think it was the application of peroxide and iodine...If I take 2 Aleve it is bearable. I feel pretty foolish. I will be using honey in the future! I just did not have any. How can I deal with this new nonsense? Once the boil completely heals I will just put my whole foot in grated potato again. It did not even hurt with just the potato. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you! By the way, I have many allergies, sensitivities, MCS, etc, so no surprise this happened. But those conditions have become more extreme over the past year, peroxide has never troubled me before like this.
I would not use constant fomentations or poultices without giving the skin a break. Especially when "drawing". I might use something all day or overnight but not both and not for more than a couple of days at a time without giving the skin an equal all day or overnight break.
SC
03/16/2025
Hello, yes I agree! I am going to do potato by day and colloidal silver gel, with no poultice, by night.
Colorado
03/16/2025
Amsterdam
03/15/2025
It is all about frequencies. Just get the mini panel. It has Red and IFR options. Or find out about your lamp frequencies.
Read this as well:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-sunlight-43-red-light-jack-kruse
https://jackkruse.com/time-7-photoelectric-effect/
Amsterdam
03/15/2025
You need red light not infrared. Your bulb is IFR https://kineon.io/blogs/news/red-light-therapy-vs-near-infrared-vs-infrared?srsltid=AfmBOorr2anEn6ZVGF6jOWLU_slv_EgNOeO7UAT2dh_7CG7nc6AC44TX
Amsterdam
03/17/2025
That lamp is IFR lamp. Red light has shorter wavelengths and primarily affects the skin's surface, can penetrate the outer layers of the skin, promoting collagen production and boosting cell regeneration. IFR light lies outside the visible light spectrum and has the ability to penetrate deeper into the body, targeting muscles, joints, and even internal organs.
Research suggests red light may offer a variety of other potential benefits, including:
- Wound healing: Studies indicate red light therapy might promote faster healing of wounds and improve tissue regeneration
- Skin conditions: Red light therapy is being explored for its potential role in managing certain skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis
Pain management: Some research suggests red light therapy might help alleviate pain associated with arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions, such as knee pain, osteoarthritis, total hip arthroplasty, fibromyalgia, temporomandibular disorders, neck pain, low back pain, and others.
I'd be very cautious using artificial lights that produce heat, we never know what it might activate. There is a place and time for heat producing lights, however I doubt anybody, including science, knows for sure where and how to use it. You don't want to activate dormant viruses and bacteria or even give a boost to the dormant cancer cells. There are so many parameters that come into play with artificial lights, such as EMF for example, they all need to be tested to see that the are in a safe range. Very few lamps manufacturers even know about that.
- Medical electrical equipment intended for human use must conform to the limits set forth in IEC 60601-1-2 to be deemed safe for use.
- IEC 60601-2-57 & IEC 60601-2-83: to provide safety requirements for Home Light Therapy Equipment specifically.
- IEC 60601-2-57 & IEC 60601-2-83: This part of IEC 60601 to provide safety requirements for Home Light Therapy Equipment specifically.
- A safety mark by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) helps assure peace of mind.
SC
03/17/2025
Thank you! I am avoiding LED due to the EMF issues. I hope to implement all kinds of light therapy in the future when I have more of a budget. I have benefited from NIR before, and have wanted to use it again anyway, as I basically never get any sunlight due to my work schedule and frequent overcast conditions. I appreciate your information and will look into red light additionally. :)
