1. Keep 'Em Clean
Staphylococcus aureus (staph) is bacteria many of us carry in our nose and on our skin that doesn't usually cause a problem. When the skin is cut or punctured however, staph can enter the body and cause cellulitis, folliculitis, boils, impetigo and scalded skin syndrome. Localized staph skin infections that are contained to one area and have not been passed to the rest of the body, can be treated by keeping the skin clean with an antibacterial soap, warm soaks, antibiotic ointment and keeping the infection covered in a clean dressing. Your health care provider will help you decide if you need to use an over-the-counter triple antibiotic ointment or if a prescription antibiotic ointment is a better choice. When cleaning and/or soaking the infection, use a towel only once before washing it again to prevent spread of the infection. If your skin ever has an area of red, irritated or painful skin, pus-filled white areas or if you have a fever, call your health care provider immediately.
2. Heat Helps
Hot compresses increase blood flow to minor skin staph infections like pimples and boils, and help decrease discomfort and encourage healing. The heat from the compress also increases the flow of white blood cells and antibodies to the localized infection, helping the body naturally fight off the infection.
3. Antibiotic Answer
Your health care provider may decide your staph infection is best treated with oral antibiotics. Take all of the medication as directed for the time period it has been prescribed. When you don't complete a cycle of antibiotics as prescribed, your infection may come back again and will likely be stronger. Bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics so it is very important to take all prescribed medications.
4. Surgical Solution
Some skin staph infections lead to abscesses that are treated surgically by draining the infection. Larger abscesses need to be lanced several times, as they often have several pockets of pus. Antibiotics and other treatment methods, like soaking and clean bandages, are also used to treat an Staphylococcus aureus abscess.
5. IV Intervention
If your infection is serious enough, intravenous antibiotic use and hospitalization may be the next step for you. Because there are different strains of Staphylococcus aureus, very serious staph infections must be cultured to decide the best possible antibiotic choice for that particular strain of staph. Unfortunately, staph has become resistant to many antibiotics including methicillin and vancomyacin, our newest line of defense against the bug. MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) and VRSA (vancomyacin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) are two dangerous types of staph infections that are difficult for even our front line of antibiotics to treat.
