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• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Treatments and Therapies

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• Related Issues
• Specifics

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• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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Summary

An abscess is a pocket of pus. You can get an abscess almost anywhere in your body. When an area of your body becomes infected, your body's immune system tries to fight the infection. White blood cells go to the infected area, collect within the damaged tissue, and cause inflammation. During this process, pus forms. Pus is a mixture of living and dead white blood cells, germs, and dead tissue.

Bacteria, viruses, parasites and swallowed objects can all lead to abscesses. Skin abscesses are easy to detect. They are red, raised and painful. Abscesses inside your body may not be obvious and can damage organs, including the brain, lungs and others. Treatments include drainage and antibiotics.

Start Here

• Abscess (VisualDX)
• Skin Abscesses (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• CT Enterography (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish
• MR Enterography (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Percutaneous Abscess Drainage (American College of Radiology; Radiological Society of North America) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Hidradenitis Suppurativa (American Osteopathic College of Dermatology)
• Pilonidal Cyst (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Specifics

• Abscess in the Lungs (Merck & Co., Inc.) Also in Spanish
• Anal Abscess and Fistula (American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons) Also in Spanish
• Bartholin's Cyst (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Folliculitis (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Peritonsillar Abscess (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Abscess (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Optimization of pathogen detection in abscess specimens: a 6-year retrospective study.
• Article: Prognostic Factors of Pediatric Acute Ethmoidal Rhinosinusitis With Orbital Subperiosteal Abscess:...
• Article: Procalcitonin and inflammatory biomarkers in tubo-ovarian abscess: Predicting surgical intervention.
• Abscess -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Children

• Abscess (VisualDX)
• Retropharyngeal Abscess (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• What's the Gips Procedure? Treating Pilonidal Cysts (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• Peritonsillar Abscess (For Teens) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Abscess - abdomen or pelvis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Amebic liver abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Anorectal abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Bartholin cyst or abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Brain abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Epidural abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Indium-labelled WBC scan (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pancreatic abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Perirenal abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Peritonsillar abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pyogenic liver abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Retropharyngeal abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Skin abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Subareolar abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Surgery for pilonidal cyst (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Tooth abscess (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish