Surprisingly, cellulitis, and skin and soft tissue abscesses, even small ones, are common causes of visits to accident and emergency departments. In patients with a drainable abscess, the treatment includes drainage of the abscess. The treatment might also include one antibiotic or even two antibiotics.
Should doctors routinely give antibiotics for skin and soft tissue infections? Multiple clinical studies were conducted last year in this area. Unfortunately, these studies give no clear answer. We are forced to think about this question in a different way.
A well-known professor writes: “The best conclusion is that treating patients with small abscesses intelligently requires … individual calculation.” Different doctors have different roles to fulfil. For emergency room physicians who do not know their patients, routinely giving antibiotics might be prudent. But for general practitioners (GPs, family physicians) who do know their patients well and know that the patient will return if things go wrong, “routinely withholding antibiotics might be equally prudent.” Because the problem of resistance to antibiotics is getting greater and greater every year.
As a patient, please never demand an antibiotic. Please take antibiotics only if deemed necessary by your doctor.