Before a skin abscess drainage procedure, you may be started on a course of antibiotic therapy to help treat the infection and prevent associated infection from occurring elsewhere in the body.

The procedure is typically done on an outpatient basis. If you have a severe bacterial infection, you may need to be admitted to a hospital for additional treatment and observation.

Prior to making an incision, your doctor will clean and sterilize the affected area.

Usually, a local anesthetic is sufficient to keep you comfortable. It’s administered with a needle into the skin near the roof of the abscess where your doctor will make the incision for drainage. Examples of local anesthetics include lidocaine and bupivacaine.

The abscess drainage procedure itself is fairly simple:

1. Your doctor makes an incision through the numbed skin over the abscess.
2. Pus is drained out of the abscess pocket.
3. After the pus has drained out, your doctor cleans out the pocket with a sterile saline solution.
4. The abscess is left open but covered with a wound dressing to absorb any more pus that is produced initially after the procedure.
5. A deeper or larger abscess may require a gauze “wick” to be placed inside to help keep the abscess open. This allows the tissue to heal properly from inside out and helps absorb pus or blood during the healing process.
6. Your doctor may send a sample of the pus to a lab for a culture to determine the cause of the bacterial infection.

Will you need a ride home?

If it isn’t possible to use local anesthetic or the drainage will be difficult, you may need to be placed under sedation, or even general anesthesia, and treated in an operating room. In this case, you’ll need a ride home.

If a local anesthetic is enough, you may be able to drive yourself home after the procedure. If the abscess is in a location that may affect your driving, such as your right leg, you may need a ride.

Recovery time from abscess drainage depends on the location of the infection and its severity.

The gauze dressing on the skin over the wound incision may need to be in place for a couple of days or a week for an abscess that was especially large or deep.

If this dressing becomes soaked with drainage, it will need to be changed.

If your doctor placed gauze wick packing inside of the abscess cavity, your doctor will need to remove or repack this within a few days.

You can expect a little pus drainage for a day or two after the procedure.

Your doctor may also prescribe antibiotic therapy to help your body fight off the initial infection and prevent subsequent infections. Pain relieving medications may also be recommended for a few days.

Within a week, your doctor will remove the dressing and any inside packing to examine the wound during a follow-up appointment. If everything looks good, you may be shown how to care for the wound and change the dressing and inside packing going forward.

For the first few days after the procedure, you may want to apply a warm, dry compress (or heating pad set to “low”) over the wound three or four times per day. This can help speed up the healing process.

You may also be advised to gently clean the area with soap and warm water before putting on new dressing. However, you should check with your doctor or a nurse about home care.

Healing could take a week or two, depending on the size of the abscess. During this time, new skin will grow from the bottom of the abscess and from around the sides of the wound.

An abscess doesn’t always require medical treatment. Milder abscesses may drain on their own or with a variety of home remedies.

You may be able to help a small abscess start to drain by applying a hot, moist compress to the affected area. This may also help reduce swelling and start the healing.

Other treatments for mild abscesses include dabbing them with a diluted mixture of tea tree oil and coconut or olive oil.

Soaking a cloth compress in hot water and Epsom salt and applying it gently to an abscess a few times a day may also help dry it out.

A skin abscess, sometimes referred to as a boil, can form just about anywhere on the body. A blocked oil gland, a wound, an insect bite, or a pimple can develop into an abscess.

If the infected area of your current abscess is treated thoroughly, typically there’s no reason a new abscess will form there again.

However, if the infection wasn’t eliminated, the abscess could reform in the same spot or elsewhere. Taking all of your antibiotics exactly as prescribed can help reduce the odds of an infection lingering and continuing to cause symptoms.

An abscess can also form after treatment if you develop a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection or other bacterial infection. These infections are contagious and can be acquired in a hospital setting or through direct contact with another person who has the infection.

Your doctor will treat an MRSA abscess the same as another similar abscess — by draining it and prescribing an appropriate antibiotic.

The most obvious symptom of an abscess is a painful, compressible area of skin that may look like a large pimple or even an open sore. The skin around the abscess may look red and feel tender and warm. You may also see pus draining from the site.

Other symptoms may include:

• swelling around the infected area
• hardened outer layer of skin
• fever or chills if the infection is severe

A small abscess with little pain, swelling, or other symptoms can be watched for a few days and treated with a warm compress to see if it recedes. You should see a doctor if the following symptoms develop:

• The abscess grows.
• You see pus (which is usually a sign of infection).
• Redness and swelling forms around the sore area.
• The area is warm to the touch.
• You have a fever or chills.

A doctor can usually diagnose a skin abscess by examining it. You should also be able to answer questions about your symptoms, such as:

• when the abscess formed
• whether it’s painful
• whether you’ve had other abscesses

To identify the type of infection you have, your doctor may send pus drained from the area to a lab for analysis.

Abscess drainage is usually a safe and effective way of treating a bacterial infection of the skin. A doctor will numb the area around the abscess, make a small incision, and allow the pus inside to drain. This, and sometimes a course of antibiotics, is really all that’s involved.

If you follow your doctor’s advice about at-home treatment, the abscess should heal with little scarring and a lower chance of recurrence.

Everyone has oil glands — in fact, these are necessary for natural skin hydration. Oil glands only become problematic if they become overactive and produce too much sebum. This is most often the case in people with oily or combination skin types.

The following risk factors can also increase your number of clogged pores, leading to more blackheads:

• hormonal fluctuations
• prescription medications
• stress
• family history

Although whiteheads also stem from clogged pores, they have closed heads. This creates the white cap that you see on the skin.

You’ll follow the same steps to get rid of a blackhead in your ear as you would for blackheads on other parts of your body. The difference, though, is that the skin on your ears is more sensitive, and you also can’t see the area easily.

Consistency is also important — it can be easy to forget your ears compared to more visible areas, such as your face.

One of the best ways to remove the excess oils and dirt that can build up in your ears is to wash them every day. This is easy to do in the shower, and you may even be able to use your regular face cleanser. You can use your fingers or a soft washcloth.

Choose gentle foaming, oil-free products, such as:

• Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser
• Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel
• Olay Clean Foaming Face Cleanser for Sensitive Skin

Avoid over-scrubbing your ears, as this can irritate your skin and cause more acne.

You may already know that exfoliation is important for your face and body. It helps to remove dead skin cells that dull your skin tone and clog your pores. This also includes your ears. You can gently exfoliate the delicate skin surrounding your ears once a week. This is best to do the shower.

Apply the exfoliating wash with your fingers and rub gently. The following products may help:

• Clarins One-Step Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser
• Philosophy the Microdelivery Face Wash
• Sephora Exfoliating Cleansing Cream

Certain over-the-counter (OTC) acne medications can also help unplug blackheads in and around your sensitive ears. Salicylic acid is a helpful OTC medication that works by unclogging pores and stripping away dead skin cells. Other acne medications like benzoyl peroxide are also useful.

Salicylic acid is available in numerous acne products. Astringents and toners are the most common, although some cleansers have it, too. When using a salicylic acid-based cleanser, such as Dermalogica Clearing Skin Wash, use this in place of a regular cleanser in the shower.

You can also use your regular cleanser and follow up with an astringent, such as Neutrogena Clear Pore Oil-Eliminating Astringent. When using an astringent, use once a day to start. If your skin doesn’t develop any irritation, you can apply twice daily in your ears with a cotton ball or Q-tip.

Extraction may be a last resort for stubborn blackheads in the ear. Rather than using fingernails or bobby pins, you’ll want to buy an extraction tool that won’t leave marks or cuts on your skin.

Still, even professional-grade extraction tools can be difficult to use in your ears. You should:

1. First, press a warm washcloth on the area to soften the plugged pore.
2. Use a sterilized extractor by pressing the metal loop on the edge of the blackhead. Then, sweep it across to extract it.
3. Be sure you don’t press the tool directly onto your blackhead — this can cause your sensitive ear skin to tear.
4. Wash your ear and sterilize the extractor again after you’re done.

Although at-home blackhead removal methods can work for some people, it doesn’t work in all cases. If your blackheads come back in your ears, or if you have a widespread case throughout the area, it may be time to see your dermatologist.

A dermatologist can help with ear blackheads in a few different ways. With professional extraction tools, they can first remove the blackheads safely and thoroughly. This could be much more effective than doing the extractions yourself since you may not be able to see inside or behind your ear very well.

If you have recurring blackheads in the ears and other areas of the body, your dermatologist may prescribe acne medication. Keep in mind though that many of these products can make your skin sensitive to the sun, so be sure to wear plenty of sunscreen to avoid burns.

Another way to get rid of blackheads in your ear is to help prevent them in the first place. Such a task is dependent on keeping your ears clean and free of excess oil. Most of the treatments don’t treat the blackhead itself but prevent others from forming. Consider the following steps:

Before a skin abscess drainage procedure, you may be started on a course of antibiotic therapy to help treat the infection and prevent associated infection from occurring elsewhere in the body.

The procedure is typically done on an outpatient basis. If you have a severe bacterial infection, you may need to be admitted to a hospital for additional treatment and observation.

Prior to making an incision, your doctor will clean and sterilize the affected area.

Usually, a local anesthetic is sufficient to keep you comfortable. It’s administered with a needle into the skin near the roof of the abscess where your doctor will make the incision for drainage. Examples of local anesthetics include lidocaine and bupivacaine.

The abscess drainage procedure itself is fairly simple:

1. Your doctor makes an incision through the numbed skin over the abscess.
2. Pus is drained out of the abscess pocket.
3. After the pus has drained out, your doctor cleans out the pocket with a sterile saline solution.
4. The abscess is left open but covered with a wound dressing to absorb any more pus that is produced initially after the procedure.
5. A deeper or larger abscess may require a gauze “wick” to be placed inside to help keep the abscess open. This allows the tissue to heal properly from inside out and helps absorb pus or blood during the healing process.
6. Your doctor may send a sample of the pus to a lab for a culture to determine the cause of the bacterial infection.

Will you need a ride home?

If it isn’t possible to use local anesthetic or the drainage will be difficult, you may need to be placed under sedation, or even general anesthesia, and treated in an operating room. In this case, you’ll need a ride home.

If a local anesthetic is enough, you may be able to drive yourself home after the procedure. If the abscess is in a location that may affect your driving, such as your right leg, you may need a ride.

Recovery time from abscess drainage depends on the location of the infection and its severity.

The gauze dressing on the skin over the wound incision may need to be in place for a couple of days or a week for an abscess that was especially large or deep.

If this dressing becomes soaked with drainage, it will need to be changed.

If your doctor placed gauze wick packing inside of the abscess cavity, your doctor will need to remove or repack this within a few days.

You can expect a little pus drainage for a day or two after the procedure.

Your doctor may also prescribe antibiotic therapy to help your body fight off the initial infection and prevent subsequent infections. Pain relieving medications may also be recommended for a few days.

Within a week, your doctor will remove the dressing and any inside packing to examine the wound during a follow-up appointment. If everything looks good, you may be shown how to care for the wound and change the dressing and inside packing going forward.

For the first few days after the procedure, you may want to apply a warm, dry compress (or heating pad set to “low”) over the wound three or four times per day. This can help speed up the healing process.

You may also be advised to gently clean the area with soap and warm water before putting on new dressing. However, you should check with your doctor or a nurse about home care.

Healing could take a week or two, depending on the size of the abscess. During this time, new skin will grow from the bottom of the abscess and from around the sides of the wound.

An abscess doesn’t always require medical treatment. Milder abscesses may drain on their own or with a variety of home remedies.

You may be able to help a small abscess start to drain by applying a hot, moist compress to the affected area. This may also help reduce swelling and start the healing.

Other treatments for mild abscesses include dabbing them with a diluted mixture of tea tree oil and coconut or olive oil.

Soaking a cloth compress in hot water and Epsom salt and applying it gently to an abscess a few times a day may also help dry it out.

A skin abscess, sometimes referred to as a boil, can form just about anywhere on the body. A blocked oil gland, a wound, an insect bite, or a pimple can develop into an abscess.

If the infected area of your current abscess is treated thoroughly, typically there’s no reason a new abscess will form there again.

However, if the infection wasn’t eliminated, the abscess could reform in the same spot or elsewhere. Taking all of your antibiotics exactly as prescribed can help reduce the odds of an infection lingering and continuing to cause symptoms.

An abscess can also form after treatment if you develop a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection or other bacterial infection. These infections are contagious and can be acquired in a hospital setting or through direct contact with another person who has the infection.

Your doctor will treat an MRSA abscess the same as another similar abscess — by draining it and prescribing an appropriate antibiotic.

The most obvious symptom of an abscess is a painful, compressible area of skin that may look like a large pimple or even an open sore. The skin around the abscess may look red and feel tender and warm. You may also see pus draining from the site.

Other symptoms may include:

• swelling around the infected area
• hardened outer layer of skin
• fever or chills if the infection is severe

A small abscess with little pain, swelling, or other symptoms can be watched for a few days and treated with a warm compress to see if it recedes. You should see a doctor if the following symptoms develop:

• The abscess grows.
• You see pus (which is usually a sign of infection).
• Redness and swelling forms around the sore area.
• The area is warm to the touch.
• You have a fever or chills.

A doctor can usually diagnose a skin abscess by examining it. You should also be able to answer questions about your symptoms, such as:

• when the abscess formed
• whether it’s painful
• whether you’ve had other abscesses

To identify the type of infection you have, your doctor may send pus drained from the area to a lab for analysis.

Abscess drainage is usually a safe and effective way of treating a bacterial infection of the skin. A doctor will numb the area around the abscess, make a small incision, and allow the pus inside to drain. This, and sometimes a course of antibiotics, is really all that’s involved.

If you follow your doctor’s advice about at-home treatment, the abscess should heal with little scarring and a lower chance of recurrence.

There are three types of external otitis.

Swimmer’s ear (acute diffuse external otitis)

This is the most common type of external otitis. It can last for up to 3 weeks, and it affects the entire ear canal.

A rash can extend to the outer ear and the eardrum.

Signs and symptoms include:

• redness and swelling in the outer ear and ear canal
• pain in the area
• scaly skin, which may peel off, in and around the ear canal
• watery or pus-like discharge, which may smell bad
• itching and irritation in and around the ear canal
• tenderness when moving the ear or jaw
• sore and swollen lymph nodes, or “glands,” in the throat
• some hearing loss, if the swelling inside the ear is significant

Other types of external otitis

Acute localized external otitis occurs when a hair follicle in the ear becomes infected. A painful, pus-filled bump, called a furuncle, may form in the ear canal. This infection is a type of furunculosis.

Chronic external otitis can result from infection, allergies, or a skin condition, such as eczema. To warrant the diagnosis, the symptoms must persist for at least 3 months, and they can last for years.

The ear has several ways of protecting itself from infection.

Cerumen, or earwax, is produced by glands in the ear canal, and it performs several functions.

For example, earwax:

• forms a thin, waterproof film on the skin of the ear canal
• contains acids and antibacterial properties, which combat bacteria
• collects debris, dead skin, and dirt and transports them out of the ear, where they appear as a waxy clump at the opening of the ear canal

The shape of the ear canal is also important. It slopes downward from the middle to the outer ear, so that liquid can drain.

External otitis can develop when the ear canal’s defenses cannot cope with an infection or an allergic reaction.

The following factors increase the likelihood of contracting swimmer’s ear:

• swimming, especially in water with high levels of bacteria
• cleaning, prodding, scratching, or scraping the ear canal with a cotton swab
• wearing a swim cap, using a hearing aid, or having a lot of earwax, which can trap water inside the ear
• having a skin condition, such as eczema, acne, or psoriasis
• having a small ear canal

Children are especially vulnerable to swimmer’s ear.

Not only swimmers get swimmer’s ear, however. It commonly affects farmers and other people who spend a lot of time outdoors.

The doctor will examine the ear canal using a handheld device called an otoscope.

They will check for:

• redness
• inflammation
• flaky or scaly skin
• damage to the eardrum

They will also ask about a person’s:

• medical history
• symptoms
• recent experiences, including swimming and inserting things into the ear, such as cotton swabs

If there is a blockage, the doctor may use an ear curette, a tiny instrument designed for scraping away debris, or a suction device to clear the ear canal.

If there is damage to the eardrum, the doctor will refer the patient to an ear, nose, and throat specialist, who will check whether the infection originated in the middle ear.

If symptoms do not improve, the doctor may test a sample of debris or discharge to learn more about the underlying issue.

If a person aged over 50 years sees a doctor with ear pain, the doctor may wish to rule out malignancy or temporal arteritis, a condition in which arteries become damaged or inflamed.

Treatment for swimmer’s ear is usually straightforward.

Options include:

Painkillers: Acetaminophen (Tylenol), for example, can relieve discomfort.

Ear drops: The recommended drops usually contain an astringent or acidic acid, a corticosteroid, an antibiotic medication, an antifungal preparation, or a combination.

Microsuction: A specialist may use suction to clean the ear, making the drops more effective.

Ear wick: This is a soft cotton gauze plug covered with medication, and a doctor will insert it into the ear canal. The aim is to help medicine to enter the area. A person should replace the ear wick every 2 or 3 days.

Treatment for other types of external otitis

Chronic external otitis: If the underlying problem is an allergy or skin issue, a physician will treat this condition first.

They may instruct a person to use ear drops for 7 days, as well as a spray. The spray will contain acetic acid, and the drops will contain a corticosteroid. If this does not work, antifungal ear drops can help.

Acute localized external otitis: The pus-filled bump will often burst and heal in a few days without treatment.

If symptoms persist for longer than 1 week, a doctor may prescribe antibiotics. If there is severe pain, the doctor may drain the pimple to remove the pus. Painkillers can also help.

The following strategies can help a person to treat all types of external otitis.

Keeping the ear dry: Use a shower cap when bathing, and avoid swimming until the infection has healed.

Removing any discharge and debris gently: Under a doctor’s supervision, use cotton wool to clear the outer ear only, without prodding deeply.

Using a warm compress: Place a warm towel over the ear to help relieve pain.

Removing any devices: Earplugs, earrings, and hearing aids can aggravate symptoms and cause an allergic reaction.

Checking for side effects: Ear drops containing neomycin or propylene glycol can trigger allergic reactions.

External otitis is not usually serious. When a person receives treatment, complications are rare.

Without treatment, however, the infection can enter the deep tissue, causing more serious complications, including:

• An abscess: A pus-filled growth can develop in or around the affected ear.
• Cellulitis: This skin infection occurs when bacteria enter the deep layers of skin.
• Stenosis: This can occur when thick, dry skin accumulates in the ear canal, narrowing it, and potentially leading to hearing loss.
• Otomycosis: This fungal infection can develop as a complication of external otitis.

Malignant external otitis, or necrotizing external otitis

If the infection reaches the bone and cartilage of the outer ear, it can cause inflammation and damage that extends to the lower part of the skull.

The condition is very painful, and it can be life-threatening. Those most at risk are adults with weakened immune systems.

If the infection spreads to the eardrum, a buildup of pus can cause inflammation in the area and perforate the eardrum.

This will normally heal within 2 months. A doctor may prescribe oral antibiotics, and it is important to keep the ear dry.

To prevent ear infections, avoid swimming in polluted water and keep the ears as dry as possible.

To dry the ears after swimming, the Merck Manual suggests mixing a solution of equal parts rubbing alcohol and white vinegar and putting two drops in each ear after swimming.

The alcohol will evaporate any water trapped in the ear, while the vinegar changes the ear’s pH, preventing the bacteria from growing.

Other ways of preventing infection include:

• drying the outer ear with cotton wool or a towel
• tipping the headTrusted Source with the ear pointed downward and pulling the earlobes in different directions or shaking the head to remove trapped water
• drying the ears with a hairdryer on a low setting, held at least 1 foot from the ear
• wearing well-fitting earplugs or a swim cap that covers the ears
• rinsing the ears with clean water after swimming in a chlorinated pool

Never put cotton swabs or other foreign objects such as hairpins into the ear. This can cause further damage and force unwanted material deeper inside the ear canal.

Earwax naturally flows outward, so a person should only use cotton swabs to remove it from the outer ear. A healthcare professional should treat any wax buildup inside the ear.

Products such as hair sprays or dyes can irritate the ear, increasing the risk of external otitis. To prevent this, gently place cotton balls in the ears before applying the products. Be careful not to push the cotton balls into the ear canal.

After treatment for an ear infection, a physician will tell a person when they can safely swim again.