Post Staph Infection

Its been about a year since I had a staph infection over my upper body, I was put on bactrim and penicillin twice. My skin cleared up, but i still get these itchy bumps once or twice a month around the same areas where the infections were. Sometimes the bumps will go away but other time i will have to apply bactrim on it. The doctors said its just dry skin, but i know that is not true, can anyone give me some info?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
The bumps that are due to staph infections seem like infected hair follicles or boils. Boils are caused by infection of the hair follicle by staph aureus. Bacterial skin infections can be spread by shared cosmetics or washcloths, close human contact, or by contact with pus from a boil or carbuncle.

Apply warm compresses on the bumps and keep the area clean. Also use an antibacterial soap or mild soap like dove. Avoid any kind of cosmetics. Topical antibiotics such as mupirocin or neomycin containing ointment are also useful. But make sure to consult your dermatologist before using them. Also recurrent boils are found in diabetes. So please get your blood sugar levels estimated.It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. Treatment can be started only when the diagnosis is confirmed. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.