Summary

    – Step 1: Preventing an Abscess

    – Step 2: Treat the infection in the red stage

    – Step 3: Treat the complicated, painful abscess

    – Step 4: Treat the purulent abscess

Many microbes inhabit our skin, and when we have an injury or irritation, these microbes (such as Staphylococcus aureus) can infiltrate the skin, causing infections.

Our body generates pus, which gathers under the skin and produces an abscess to fight those infections.

Here’s how to treat an abscess from redness to a purulent abscess.

1. Preventing an abscess from forming

To prevent the appearance of an abscess, you can take a few simple and effective measures. For instance, moisturize your skin well because dry areas lead to a tightness responsible for a sore. Disinfect a skin wound daily until it heals; this will prevent germs from entering your skin. Shaving irritates and is frequently implicated in the development of abscesses in the armpits and pubic area. After shaving, disinfect your skin once a day for 2 to 3 days. Smoking damages the skin and can lead to abscesses.

If you have a skin wound, avoid wearing synthetic clothes because they encourage maceration, leading to infection of the injury.

2. Treat the infection at the redness stage

If you notice redness of the skin that is a bit raised with an absence of pus, disinfect the redness daily and monitor its evolution. If it does not grow and you do not have a fever, the infection may stop at this stage and disappear gradually. If not, please consult a doctor.

3. Treat the complicated, painful abscess

Soon after the redness stage, the skin becomes stiff and painful. This is the second stage of abscess development, called the indurated collection.

    – Continue to disinfect locally every day.

    – Apply compresses soaked in 70°C alcohol or warm water to the infected area for 10 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day.

    – Depending on the size and location of the abscess, your doctor may prescribe antibiotic ointment or tablets.

Advice: to relieve pain, you can take paracetamol in an appropriate dosage. Avoid taking anti-inflammatory drugs, which can enlarge the area of infected skin.

4. Treat the purulent abscess

The cells in your body that came to fight the infection die and become pus.

At this point, you should see your doctor, who will decide on the best management: treatment with antibiotics or incision.

Antibiotic therapy

Antibiotic treatment lasts 5 days and includes:

    – orally:

        ◦ clindamycin (three doses of 0.6 g/day),

        ◦ pristinamycin (three doses of 1 g/day);

    – intravenous:

        ◦ oxacillin or cloxacillin,

        ◦ ceffazolin

Surgery

Incision treatment may be recommended when the abscess is large, very painful, or located on specific areas, such as the fingers. It is mainly done under local anesthesia. The procedure consists of piercing the abscess with a scalpel to evacuate the collection of pus.

It is then necessary to introduce a wick into the cavity that appears after the drainage to cause healing from the depth to the surface. If the wicking is not done, the recovery will occur on the surface, leaving a free cavity deep down that may be the nest of recurrences of the abscess.

Materials needed to treat an abscess.

Disinfectant for approximately $3.

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