captainsquid

Hello,

Last October (2010) I noticed a painful bump on my back (right below my left shoulder blade.) I thought it might be a pimple or an ingrown hair, so I tried to drain it. Bad decision. Over the course of a few days it got much more painful and developed a large swollen red area around it. The doctor did a culture and had me on two different antibiotics since she couldn't be sure if it was MRSA or a less serious staph infection. It wasn't MRSA and I continued on only one of the antibiotics and it went away perfectly fine.

About two weeks ago I noticed another small pimple-like bump in almost the same spot. I thought instantly that it was probably staph again, so I went to the doctor that day. She lanced it and drained what little bit of fluid there was and sent it for culture. Again, it was a staph infection, but not MRSA. I was put on another antibiotic (Bactrim, I can't remember what the first antibiotic I was on was). The pain subsided in about a day and the pustule cleared up just leaving behind a little reddish scar. This morning I woke up with yet another pustule in almost the same area. It looks and feels exactly like the one I had two weeks ago. I didn't have a culture on this. The DR told me to finish up my current antibiotics and treat this with hot compresses and ointment. If it doesn't clear up, he wrote me a prescription for a strong antibiotic to fill if necessary.

I'm very frustrated and confused as to why I am getting so many infections in such a short amount of time. I am a 20 year old female, very clean with no other medical conditions and not on any other medication. Is this one recurring infection or just multiple individual infections? Why would they all be occurring in basically the same area?

Any help is greatly appreciated (: Thank you!