Brief Answer:
Yes - both could coexist.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX! Good afternoon. I am Dr Shareef, a general surgeon answering your query.

Yes - both an abscess and cellulitis could coexist together.
Whenever an infection occurs in the skin and the subcutaneous tissue, this gives rise to features of initial stage of infection/inflammation like swelling with reddish discoloration due to local increase in its vascularity, local rise of temperature for similar reason, pain tenderness, and restriction of the function depending on the site. If this stage is not treated or goes unnoticed, then it leads to an abscess formation which might contain some purulent material, which is the infected liquefied dead tissue due to phagocytosis and enzymatic degradation in inflammation, a natural defense mechanism of the body cells, specially the white blood cells. The surrounding area of the abscess might still be inflamed with indurations which are cellulites in medical term. At this stage, it would need an incision and drainage as a standard treatment.

I am not aware for what and for whom you have asked this question. If there is a patient and I was the doctor, I would certainly do a routine CBC and a blood sugar test for him/her and other related investigations depending on the site and duration of the involvement.

I hope I have answered your query and now you are clear about it. However, please do not hesitate to ask in case of any further doubts.

Thanks for choosing health care magic to clear doubts on your health problems. I wish your patient an early recovery.
Dr Shareef

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Brief Answer:
Yes, you are right.

Detailed Answer:
Hi ! Good evening. Nice to hear from you again. Once the abscess is drained adequately, the inflammation in the cellulitic area would also become less and gradually get healed up with proper drainage and dressings provided no other systemic problem was responsible for the inflammation.

Thanks and good luck. Dr Shareef.

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