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Early treatment of breast infection is the best way to prevent an abscess developing. Your GP will normally prescribe oral antibiotics to fight the infection before an abscess has a chance to develop. This type of treatment normally continues for seven to ten days, and will not affect your baby if you continue to breastfeed.
For women who are dehydrated or vomiting, or who have diabetes or an immunosuppressive disease, intravenous antibiotics are usually prescribed. Intravenous antibiotics are injected directly into the blood, and may also be recommended in rare cases of severe infection. Infection that develops into a breast abscess usually needs to be drained. A small abscess can be drained with a needle, sometimes using ultrasound to guide the needle. A local anaesthetic may be given to numb the skin over the infected breast tissue. This procedure can often be carried out at your GP surgery.
For a large abscess, a small incision is made in the abscess to let the pus drain out. An injection of local anaesthetic is usually given first to numb the breast tissue. General anaesthesia is usually not needed for this treatment unless the abscess is deep.
view information about Breast Abscess on www.nhs.co.uk »Important Notice
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