What Causes Painful Reddish Lump On Arm?

Posted on Mon, 12 May 2014

Question: I have a lump in my arm for nine years it is very painful and it is growing like the size of a plumb my skin around is red,

Answered by Dr. Dr. Kakkar (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Bacterial Infection Detailed Answer: Hello and welcome to healthcaremagic. I am Dr. Kakkar. I have gone through your query and I have understood it. I believe that it is infected, therefore it is painful, red and swollen. I would like to gather more information from you regarding the lump: -Was it completely asymptomatic before?Or was it painful? -Is there any pus discharge form the lump? -Do you have fever? If I was the treating doctor I would have advised an empirical oral antibiotic for a week OR 10 days (My choice of oral antibiotic would have been Amoxycillin 500mg in combination with clavulanic acid 125 mg, thrice daily, for a week OR Cephalexin 500ng thrice daily OR Cefadroxil 500mg twice daily, for a week). That would take care of the infection. An OTC pain killer e.g ibuprofen once or twice daily would help you deal with the pain. However, if it keeps growing OR does'nt respond adequately to antibiotics, than it may have to be incised to drain away the pus and infection regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar