Korean J Dermatol.  2004 Jun;42(6):724-727.

Efficacy of Prophylactic Antibiotics in Dermatological Punch biopsy

• Kim SJ
• Seo PS
• You DO
• Park SD

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Punch biopsy has been used frequently as a diagnostic method in dermatologic field. However dermatologist administrated antibiotics is routine for the prevention of wound infection. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of prophylactic antibiotics in punch biopsy. METHODS: Four hundred and one patients undergoing punch biopsy were studied prospectively. Patients were randomly split in to two groups: group I received prophylactic antibiotics after punch biopsy (197 patients), group II didn't receive any antibiotic after punch biopsy (204 patients). Wound infection was defined as a condition of erythema, edema, and pain or purulent discharge. RESULTS: Patients demographics and skin disease were similar between two groups. Biopsy site were infected in 3 patients of group I and 5 patients of groups II. Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacteroides fragilis were isolated from the infected biopsy site. There was no significant difference of infection rate between two groups. CONCLUSION: This result suggests that the routine use of prophylactic antibiotics after skin punch biopsy is unnecessary.

Keyword

Punch biopsy; Prophylactic antibiotics

MeSH Terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents*
Bacteroides fragilis
Biopsy*
Demography
Edema
Erythema
Humans
Prospective Studies
Skin
Skin Diseases
Staphylococcus aureus
Staphylococcus epidermidis
Wound Infection
Anti-Bacterial Agents