Im just asking because I recently discovered that there are eerie simillarities between what we around here know as cysts and what people on other boards call boils.
I know gross, boils! but come on, a large red lump is what it is.
Boils are known to be caused by staph. Acne is associated with p. acnes.
Im wondering has anyone here ever had a culture of the pus inside one of your cysts to name the offending bactieria. probably not but just checking, should we?
It seems logical that if our skin is prone to infection in may not just be one type of bacteria thats calling the shots. After all if you've ever had a cyst you know that they are completely different from your standard comedome.
Anyone have any experience with or knowledge of staph?
Just looking for thoughts so post even if your not sure where Im going with this.
Cysts and boils are greatly different. There are also different kinds of cysts too. Many cysts have nothing to do with bacteria, but acne cysts often are infected w/ p. acnes. Cysts don't need culturing, unless it becomes infected and becomes a boil. Depending on what type a cyst is, they can be treated by steroid injection, oral medication, surgical removal, or incision/drainage.
Boils are painful, inflamed, fluctuant bumps, often with a prominent plugged pore near the center. Boils are bacterial infections, most of them caused by a staph species, but other species can cause boils as well. A new solitary boil doesn't necessarily need culturing, but certainly a bad one does. The treatment of choice for a boil is to open it up and remove the contents. Oral antibiotics are sometimes given as well, depending on how bad the boil is. In areas where there is a high incidence of Methicillin-resistant Staph Aureus, any skin infection including boils should be cultured.