Question

Other names for what you describe are "folliculitis" (small red bumps with a pustule, or whitehead, on the surface) and "furunculosis" (larger, deeper ones).

Answer

Other names for what you describe are "folliculitis" (small red bumps with a pustule, or whitehead, on the surface) and "furunculosis" (larger, deeper ones). These lesions are usually caused by infection within the hair follicles, and the most common sites in babies are the buttocks and backs of the thighs. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common bacteria to cause these lesions. In recent years, a strain called community-acquired, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or CA-MRSA, has become more common, and infections with this bacteria may be a bit more difficult to treat. These infections may also be passed to other members of the household quite easily.

There are several steps in treating these infections. Your health care provider may start with recommending topical and systemic antibiotics and antibacterial cleansers, and it is important that all affected family members be treated. Your provider may also collect skin swabs from the lesions, which are sent to a laboratory to grow the bacteria and see which antibiotics will be most effective. In patients who continue to develop lesions, other treatments might be used, including application of antibacterial creams to the nostrils or anal region (common areas where the bacteria might reside), different oral antibiotics, or even baths with a small amount of Clorox bleach added (one quarter cup of bleach to a full tub of water, with close supervision, once to twice weekly for 10 minutes). If larger lesions caused by CA-MRSA occur, they sometimes need to be drained by a physician.