I have an abscess on my leg - antibiotics not working - what to do?

[skinissue]

I am at my wits end and would be very grateful for any help or advice.

I have a skin abscess at the top of my inner thigh measuring about 2.5 inches and it is very red, hot, angry, and most of all - painful.

Had this about 8 days and I am on a 7 day course of Flucloxaxillin - 1,000mg (4 tablets per day) so strong dose.

In short, it has not cleared up at all and is still pretty much the same size, redness, and swelling. It is perhaps around 10% less painful, but there is no 'head' or any part of it that looks as though pus will emerge, but a small part of the top of it looks as though it might be starting to yellow slightly and perhaps scab over.

It is so so painful as every time I walk it rubs against my other leg and sitting / standing / turning over in bed / bending / using the loo are all agony.

Questions:

• Do I need an incision and drainage?
• Are these procedures typically successful and what is the approximate recovery period?
• Should I go to my local A&E to get this done? Want to avoid my GP for personal reasons that I don't have the post length to get into right now.

Thank you in advance!

See a GP today, either at your surgery or ring 111 for urgent care

DH has one on his bottom. It was drained and then packed. Had to see nurse for daily dressings for literally weeks and weeks until it healed. It has to regrow flesh from inside out. No showers, etc as open wound.

You need more antibiotics. Don't mess with it.

If you ring 111 they will call back and ask for photos. We did this 8 days ago as DH has one. He was sent by 111 straight to A and E. He was treated and partially drained and put on the same dose antibiotic as you, then underwent drainage under local 36hrs later allowing the tablets to start to work so the local anaesthetic would work. The antibiotics have not worked after 5 days and the incision and drainage has not worked either. It did not go deep enough for the infection. Today he is having a further incision and drainage under general. So either phone 111 or go to A and E/urgent care. I hope you get it sorted and resolved quickly.

I think we need a photo.

My dp had something similar in his groin, but slightly smaller. They had him straight in for surgery to completely remove it. Draining can make it more comfortable for the short term, but abscesses have a tendency to refill unless you remove the capsule. I'd go back to the GP for a referral, but if you can't do that, try minor injuries. If you get a temperature or start feeling ill, do not hesitate to go straight to A&E.

GP will probably be able to make a direct referral to the surgeons (but as per PP there may be a bit of debate about which surgeons given where it is). If you can't get through to GP/get an appointment then ED would be reasonable too. This sounds like very bread-and-butter surgical on-call stuff and no emergency theatre list is complete without at least one abscess to drain (often under GA as others have said because local often doesn't work very well where there's a lot of tissue inflammation).

You need to go to minor injuries they will swab it and dress it. Under no circumstances must you let it rub or it will never heal. Buy some dressings from your local pharmacy.

The last time I had antibiotics, not for what you describe, they didn't seem to work at all until the last day. It was very odd. I literally felt no better until I took the last one, then boom, felt completely well.

I had an abscess that didn’t respond to ABs years ago. I left it and had to get rushed to hospital to have it drained when I started to run a high fever. Don’t leave it… call 111 and see what they say.

It took two weeks of antibiotics to get an abscess on my back to the point where it burst, and that was a smaller one than yours. The GP did say it could be drained if the second course didn't do the trick. However, I had a glorious hour or so wiping up rivers of pus - very satisfying.

@bridgetreilly pharmacists can only give antibiotics in limited conditions and wouldn't be able to give second line antibiotics for an abscess. Here's a list of the conditions/ age ranges they're able to treat at the moment www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/pharmacy/pharmacy-services/pharmacy-first/

I wasn’t asked for a photo. I had to go to ooh Gp

I’ e had one of these, I waited longer than I should have and when I went to the doctor she immediately referred me to the short stay surgical unit of the local hospital and it was drained that evening (though cannot say it was pleasant), and was given very strong antibiotics. You do need to see your GP again, ask for an urgent appointment.

Hope you are doing ok @skinissue

Hi @skinissue,
I had this practically identical problem 11 years ago! Leg abscess got worse, despite amoxicillin. Went to an out of hours doctor, who sent me straight to A&E. Had an incision and drainage under general that evening. Drastic, but it made such a difference having it drained! Was such a relief. Hope something was figured out for you.

i hope you are ok.

a very small purple spot started last week on my leg and by Friday I was in A&E with a swollen leg, an infection in my blood and an Incision and Drainage on Saturday under general anaesthetic with IV antibiotics.

I had no idea the impact and now the weeks of dressing appointments so wish I had gone to A&E earlier in the week.

please don’t leave it or wait and see. Five days on antibiotics sounds like time to get a doctor’s opinion.

I was also tested for diabetes 2 but the first results were inconclusive so waiting for the three months results.