Skin & Soft Tissue Infections: When to Seek Medical Care (& Why)
Abscesses typically can heal on their own, especially if treated with heat and kept covered, but you should seek medical attention if:
• It’s extremely painful and/or you want to have the pus drained – this is best done by a medical provider who can treat the opening with antibiotic creams and pack the open wound.
• It’s moving around your limb/body – this could be a sign of further infection
• It hasn’t gotten smaller, less painful, or improved in any way within a week -- this means it isn’t healing on its own and may require antibiotics
• It’s hot to the touch, or textured/blisteredthis could be cellulitis.
Cellulitis is an SSTI that requires anti-biotics to heal, so if you have 3+ days of symptoms like...
• A hard, painful swelling that isn’t filled with pus, like an abscess would be, and that isn’t getting smaller
• Your skin is a grayer or darker shade (darker skin tones), or red (lighter skin tones) in swollen areas
• Your skin is hot to the touch in the swollen area
• Your skin has a rough, bumpy, or blistered texture that may resemble the texture of an orange peel
• Your skin has turned yellow or green (lighter skin tones), a more maroonish red, purple, or black (all skin tones) and smells like rotten food. This could be a sign of gangrene, which is extensive tissue damage that can spread to other parts of the body.
... you should seek out medical attention.
MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that can be passed through contact – including
sharing syringes, cookers, cottons, straws, pipes, or other equipment. MRSA may look or feel like
• An abscess
• Cellulitis
• A spider bite,
And may be accompanied by
• Fever, especially a fever above 102°F
There are medicines that can treat MRSA, but it takes 2 days to diagnose – this is why it’s important to seek medical care if your abscess isn’t improving or if you think you might have cellulitis.
• Sepsis, or blood poisoning, can happen certain when bacteria enters your bloodstream through an open wound. It can cause septic shock, which can be deadly. Seek treatment as quickly as you can if:
• You have a red or purplish streak coming from a wound, especially if the streak is
• made up of small, pinprick-like dots
• You have a temperature above 101°F or below 96°F
• Your heart rate feels elevated and has been for more than a day
• You feel faint and are having a hard time breathing
Necrotizing fasciitis, better known as flesheating disease, is rare but very serious – the bacteria that causes this disease kills parts of the body that it infects, and it can happen really quickly. It’s hard to diagnose because it can look like cellulitis or MRSA, so seek medical attention quickly if you have cellulitis or MRSA symptoms and:
• A high fever that came on suddenly
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
• Chills