Anyone who rides a mountain bike as a hobby does so to a (large) extent to stay or get fit, clear their head and have fun. However, this quickly comes to an end when something called "saddle sores" sets in.
This term refers to various complaints in the seat area such as chafing, small wounds or boils. In a survey of professional female cyclists from 2021, they even named boils as the number one complaint when it comes to the body area in contact with the saddle.
When hair hurts
A boil is a purulent inflammation of the skin caused by bacteria. Although it looks like a large pustule, unlike a pimple, a boil lies in the deeper layers of the skin and is much more painful.
While the sebaceous glands are blocked in a pimple, the hair follicle and the surrounding connective tissue become inflamed in a boil. The hair follicle contains a hair, a hair root, a sebaceous gland opening and a small muscle to raise the hair. The hair follicle is also called the hair follicle; this is why experts also refer to the inflammation in a boil as deep folliculitis and perifolliculitis.
This inflammation causes the skin tissue inside the boil to die, creating a cavity filled with pus. If several boils join together, they become a carbuncle. Sounds unpleasant, but: "Boils are basically harmless at first," says Dr Ursula Manunzio, Head of the Department of Competitive and Recreational Sports at Bonn University Hospital.
She is not surprised that the purulent abscesses often occur in cyclists: "If there is also friction between the cycling shorts and the saddle when pedalling in areas with a lot of hair, such as the genital area or buttocks, the likelihood of a boil developing increases. In principle, this can happen to anyone," explains the sports doctor. "It doesn't always have to do with a lack of hygiene." However, because this assumption is still widespread, many people are ashamed to go to the doctor. But that would be important.
Pull, push or cut?
Sometimes a boil heals on its own without any problems. However, medical treatment is often advisable. It can speed up healing, relieve pain and protect against complications. So if you notice a reddened and painful swelling the size of a cherry stone on your bum, you should visit your doctor's surgery at the latest if the boil has not disappeared on its own after three days.
"It's not very easy to reach the typical boils yourself. You shouldn't press on them anyway," warns the sports doctor. If you do or ignore the problem, there is a risk that the pathogens will spread - and with them the inflammation.
Ursula Manunzio still remembers a palm-sized collection of pus from a boil that had been ignored for too long, which she had to cut open on a cyclist's bottom at the beginning of her career as a sports doctor. "A boil like that is not trivial, you shouldn't let it get that far," she warns.
Better: Have the pus abscess opened by a doctor with a small incision and have the wound disinfected. As long as a boil is still growing, the abscess is not fully formed. In this phase, it may still be possible to treat the boil with warm, moist compresses or so-called traction ointment.
However, as laypeople do not have the experience to feel how far the maturing process has progressed, a visit to the doctor is also recommended here. Antibiotics are only necessary if complications are likely or have already occurred - for example, if a carbuncle has developed from several boils.
Goodbye, boils!
There is no watertight method to prevent boils from developing in the first place, says Ursula Manunzio. But there are a few little things that make it more likely to develop, such as "cycling clothes that are too tight and rub," says the sports doctor.
Shaving, on the other hand, is no protection, according to the motto: where there's no hair, there's no boil. On the contrary, according to Ursula Manunzio, trimmed hair can easily grow into the intimate area - and this can favour the development of boils.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
