Abstract

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether incision and drainage followed by treatment with oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is better than incision and drainage alone at treating patients with uncomplicated skin abscesses. One hundred and ninety-seven papers were found using the reported searches, of which three presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. It is concluded that trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole may help with abscess cure, and will decrease abscess formation at new sites.