Suggest Treatment For Painful Hard Abscess

Posted on Tue, 5 Jan 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 5 Jan 2016 Answered on

Tue, 2 Feb 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : my fiancÃ© got this bump over a week ago. it started out as a hard small bump, then over the next few days it got bigger. there was a large red circle that surrounded the bump at first, now there are red bumps and spots that surround it. it started opening up last night and he got a little bit of this whit stuff out but that's it. it's very hard to the touch and is very painful. what could this be and does he need to seek medical attention immediately?

Answered by Dr. T Chandrakant (40 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Boil under pressure with furuncles. See a Doctor.

Detailed Answer:
Hi.
Thanks for your query and a clear picture.
Noted the history related to your fiance.
The picture clearly shows this to be an abscess with surrounding erythema with small lesions which look to be developing boils like furuncles.
These may appear due to spread if the infection as the infection is under pressure or may be due to application of the stick-on dressing material.

Yes, he needs medical attention as he needs an antibiotic cover and an anti-inflammatory medicine prescription.
You may apply liquid povidone iodine locally to the skin to sterilize the skin.
This may open up on its own within a few days or may need a small incision and debridement if does not open up or increase in size.

I hope this answers your query.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar