Eighteen consecutive patients with non-lactational breast abscesses have been treated by aspiration (ten patients), surgical drainage after application of local anaesthetic cream (seven patients) or a combination of aspiration and local anaesthetic cream drainage (one patient) combined with a 2-week course of either amoxycillin and clavulanic acid or cephradine and metronidazole. All abscesses resolved completely within 2 weeks of treatment and all 18 patients expressed satisfaction with the method of treatment used. The majority of patients with breast abscesses can now be managed as outpatients.