Forehead Infection

Hello, I noticed a red swollen area directly over the area of  the  inner corner of my (R) eyebrow, on my forehead. By the next morning it was much larger and  painful. I was given Bactrim DS, and did not see much improvement. I seeked the attention of a Dermatologist who took a culture of the area, even though I had  been taking the Bactrim for 5 days. He prescribed  Altabax twice daily, to the affected area, for 5 days and advised that I continue the Bactrim for another 5 days. I returned to the Dermatologist , one week later, and he felt it was improving and on it's way to healing. He told me there was no growth on the culture. I was given Biofine and advised to apply it to the area  I saw my GP in the meanwhile and he thought the area still required more antibiotics, but this time he gave me Cipro, for 5 days.  . It is now 4 weeks and I still have this dark spot,( looks like trapped blood) on my forehead, which looks better in the am and progressively worse in the PM. It remains annoying & gives me headaches,throughout the day. I never received a definitive diagnosis, so I am assuming that it was a CA Staph infection. Should I wait much longer before returning to the Dermaologist. I was last to him  about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Is it safe to assume that it is healing, even though it appears so slow. Plese advise and I thank you very much...Mar    

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

From the description of symptoms,it sounds like a boil but by the amount of antibiotics that you have taken,it should have healed by now.The other possibilities are of an infected sebaceous cyst,swollen lymph node or a herpes sore.I would recommend that you take a second opinion from a dermatologist and get it evaluated.A skin biopsy may be needed to confirm the diagnosis.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries.Kind regards.