what does a staff infection look like?

Question

I have some sort of a hole in my cheek and it's getting a lot bigger each day; I have tried every over the counter medication and nothing works.

I have had this problem for about a week, it started out looking like a pimple, and a few days later it became the size of a dime. I can probe inside it and there is no feeling, but the outside area is very hard and hurts when touched.

I should note that this area is on the outside of my mouth and NOT in the mouth itself. I looked up the antibiotics I am on and have been on for another infection are linked to staph infections. Should I stop taking these meds or what?

Answer 1

"Staff" as you call it refers to Staphylococcus, a bacteria. However there are plenty of other organisms that are capable of causing stubborn (and potentially dangerous,) mouth lesions... including STDs. Have you heard of Anthrax? That's a possibility, too, so don't mess around.

Identification of particular infecting organisms is a lot more complex than the location of the lesion and cannot be (and should not be,) guessed about in order to select a proper treatment.

There are very few over the counter agents that will successfully treat an infection inside the mouth - mouth washes and gargles are about as good as you can expect - dilute salt water and dilute peroxide preparations are as good. On the skin surface you have neosporin and bacitracin ointments...skin cleansers and iodine soaps. If these fail over the course of a short trial, make and appointment with a medical professional and get a good diagnosis made... you'll get what you need and you'll return yourself to good health. For a lesion on the face, I would suspect that you may want to be in a hurry over solving this in order to avoid possible scarring.

Added:

This sounds like a deep fungal infection rather than a common bacteria.. see an MD.

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Answer 2

Its known as a "staph" skin infection caused by the bacteria
Staphylococcus Aureus- and there are now two types
those are sensitive to Methacillian (or more commonly used nafcillian) and those resistant to Methacillian.

Anyway the lesions of a "staph' skin infection look like
small crusted over red lesions that can be painful or itchy
and usually spread to the surrounding skin.

If you think that oyu may have one, apply OTC bacitracin or neosporin and if it keeps spreading call your MD.

Good luck


try this web site

http://dermatlas.med.jhmi.edu/derm/

http://dermatlas.med.jhmi.edu/derm/IndexDisplay.cfm?ImageID=1859187706

Answer 3

I had it back maybe 7-8 months age due to a laceration on my left leg. To me from what I can remember it and what my infection did on my leg it is a big cut and it oozes,bleeds, and it has a fever in it. I took the best medicine twice for it CLINDAMYCIN because it wouldn't go away. Finally back in late March it went away and now I have a huge scar on it. The doctors require I think to have you keep it covered up . There is one medicine that has seizures listed as a side effect but I can't remember what it is though but Clindamycin is the best . Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Its not pretty - Look this up on google images and things are scary. If you think it is getting worse, get to the doctor asap. You could have any number of different infections which will get harder to treat as you let time go by.

Answer 5

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/cdc/staph/index.html
http://www.dermnetnz.org/bacterial/staphylococci.html