UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Paronychia

Category: Orthopedics

Keywords: Paronychia (PubMed Search)

Posted: 1/9/2010 by Michael Bond, MD
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Acute paronychia

  • Usually result from minor trauma of the skin around the fingernail such as biting, manicures, picking a hangnail or finger sucking.
  • Staphylococcus aureus is the most common infecting organism. However other mouth flora such as Streptococcus and Pseudomonas species, gram-negative bacteria, and anaerobic bacteria can also be a cause.
  • Recommended treatement consists of incision and drainage and placing the patient on  amoxicillin /  clavulanic acid or clindamycin to cover all the organisms noted above.