Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire This is why you shouldn't get tattoos....

So DocRocket,

Why did the doc in the video press down on the abscess, soaking it up with gauze or paper, instead of using a vacuum like device?

I imagine a vacuum device would keep everything from running all over the place, and (if it stank) keep the smell down.

There was some documentary on primitive medicine men and women or something many years ago. One scene showed an old woman draining an abscess on a man's back. She cut a short incision with a knife, then used a bamboo straw to squirt water from her mouth into the wound. Then she sucked it out by mouth and spat out the viscous result onto a flat rock. Had to rinse and repeat about two or three times if I recall.

I'm not all that squeamish but I damn near threw up watching that one...

That's a HUGE abscess! I've never drained one that big in my career. To tell the truth, incision & drainage of abscesses is one of the most fun things I get to do in ER. Yeah, I'm a sick bastidge, but I'm a HAPPY sick bastidge!!

The doc in this video made a very large incision, which tells me that this abscess was probably in excess of 500 mL in volume, possibly close to a liter. The abscess will have to be packed and repacked to keep it from closing and reinfecting. Assuming this is a healthy person, s/he will be going back to the clinic for a repack every 2-3 days for 2-3 months. Not a happy camper, I'm sure.

In my experience, only about 10-15% of abscesses grow the kind of bugs that make a lot of stink (E. coli, Bacteroides, and other anaerobes). Most of them are caused by aerobic skin bacteria such as Staphylococcus, and are odorless.But the ones that DO stink are horrible. And like Forrest Gump would say, until you cut into the thing, you never know what you're gonna get...

I've seen a LOT of infected tattoos, although almost all are simple cellulitis (infection of the skin and immediate subcutaneous fat) that clear up with antibiotics. Very few develop into abscesses.

The big risk now with tats is that we're seeing a lot more tattoo infections from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA is not only hard to kill with conventional antibiotics, it can permanently colonize the skin, nostrils, etc, and may reappear as a life-threatening infection later. MRSA is a huge threat to critically ill people in hospitals and nursing homes.

I was cool until he stuck his finger so deep in!!!!! Man that was super nasty!

By the way Jack, and curious minds want to know, what did you have tattooed up there? ;-{>8

Oh but they are so sexy on hot chicks LOL

Impossible to get up to that volume in a mouth, but it IS right where people live.

;-{>8

Hey, I thought you were still Red Striping it.