Everything you need to know about carbuncle skin infections

What are carbuncles?

Carbuncles are a type of skin infection.
When a single hair follice is infected – that is referred to as foliculitis. A single, red, teder lesion that typically has a pustular head.

Sometimes the infection grows to involve structures beyond and then it is called a furuncle (boil).
A collection of diffusely infected hair follicles/furuncles with many pustular heads are referred to as a carbuncle. Take a look at the image attached.
Would you like to find out more about skin infections in children and adults? Follow this link.

What bacteria usually cause development of carbuncles?

Carbuncles are usually caused by staphylococcus aureus.

Are carbuncles dangerous?

It is not about them being dangerous but more so about the fact that their presence indicates a non-minor infection, one that is diffuse and deep and can therefore present with signs of local infection such as redness, swelling, tenderness and sometimes sytemic fever.

How are carbuncles treated?

The treatment is usually drainage and antibiotics. The choice of antibiotic is decided by the primary caretaker.
In addition, in these cases I prefer to also prescribe the old but good topical treatment named Icthammol.

What if a patient has recurrent carbuncles?

If a patient has recurrent skin infections, I recommend reading the chapter that discusses it here.

In summary, this is a short post that I decided to write after seeing a sweet child in my clinic with a carbuncle skin infection. I hope it helps you the next time you come across this infection.