6 replies to this topic

[acdc1]

To start off, I have very, very mild acne. Just the occasional hormonal breakout.

I had a MRSA infection about 3 or 4 years ago, on my stomach. It's cleared up. However, one of my mom's friends very recently had a horrendous MRSA infection, had to go on major antibiotics, antibiotics killed all the good bacteria too, organs started shuting down, and yesterday she had to have her entire colon removed and is gravely ill. My mom is now convinced that I have MRSA living on my skin and my acne will turn it into a deadly, full-blown infection. She's got me on a new regimen that dries out my skin HORRENDOUSLY and is thinking about taking me to a new dermatologist to see about Accutane- which I definitely DO NOT need.

Is there any truth to the MRSA, acne thing? I want to calm her down!

[OmegaisJaded]

Oh my god,that's insane...

MRSA is an entirely different organism than anything you have on your face.

Yes,your pimples carry bacteria...not the one that causes MRSA,though.

Go to wikipedia and have your mom read up on what MRSA actually is.

[MelOuttaMegacity]

If you've been cleared of MRSA years ago, then I don't see why your mom thinks you have it again. Are you commonly in contact with people who have it?

The easiest thing to do is to just get a culture swab done by your family physician if she's really that concerned about it.

Honestly, I don't think it's anything. You CAN contract MRSA through open wounds, so if you've been picking at your acne and you come across an MRSA-infected person then you CAN get it. But... I don't think it's much of a concern.

[acdc1]

Well, the pimples on my face definitely don't look like the one of my stomach. It was very red, swollen, tender, and feverish, and I felt bad, too.

[keiko1]

Well, the pimples on my face definitely don't look like the one of my stomach. It was very red, swollen, tender, and feverish, and I felt bad, too.

have you seen a derm to talk about this? moms are crazy like that.. trust me i know man.. but i would never go to the extent of accutane its a pretty serious drug. Talk to your derm first and tell her not to worry until you know your information

[Wynne]

If it were MRSA, accutane would do nothing for it.

Your mom's friend's experience sounds horrific. Sounds like she may have also had a drug reaction, although systemic infection can lead to organ failure as well.

To relieve your mom's concerns, just go to a derm and have the lesions cultured. As you were treated in the past and were pronounced cleared, it's not so likely you have it. But MRSA can masquerade as acne; it's how one of my friend's (also a nurse) MRSA manifested itself. She had one lesion on her face that just wouldn't heal; the culture came back as MRSA. In an unrelated development she also got a venous stasis ulcer, so she was in pretty dire straits for a while there.

Just go to a derm and have your derm educate you and your mom about a proper regimen that's also healthy for your skin. Good luck!

[acdc1]

Well, I went to the derm and she said that it was highly, highly unlikely that I would get a MRSA infection like my mom's friend- turns out that what my mom didn't tell me was that she had contracted it while on vacation in a remote area and didn't get it properly treated, and by the time she got back to a more civilized place it was really to rampant to do anything about (unfortunately, the friend died by the way).

The derm did start me on some new medicine that made the acne worse, then hasn't changed a bit. Hmph.