Prescription Topical Antibiotics?

[gunsmoke]

Which prescription topical antibiotics should I ask my Dr. for, for inclusion in my home medicine chests and my BOBs?

Are there any topicals that still contain Mercury?

[DrBaboon]

Perhaps you could give a little more detail of what you have in mind.

Because you asked about mercury containing products, I wondered if you might have been looking for antiseptics rather than antibiotics directed against bacteria. And just to be clear, you do not appear to be asking about topical anti-infective products directed at non-bacterial infections, such as fungus or herpes viruses. Unless you redirect me, I will also assume you don't mean externally applied antibiotics in a broad sense, as that might include eye drops and ear drops and vaginal preparations, but that you are looking only for antibiotics applied to the skin.

The short answer is that I don't think you're going to find antibiotics applied to the skin will be a good way of treating bacterial infections in a survival situation.

The long answer about roles of topical antibiotics and types follows below:


Acne treatments include topical antibiotics:
http://dermatology.about.com/od/topicals/a/acnetopabx.htm

Mupirocin (brand name BACTROBAN) is kind of in a special category --
http://www.gsk.com/products/prescription_medicines/us/bactroban_us.htm
Sure - it has uses in Staphylococcus and Streptococcus infections - particularly impetigo. But you really need systemic antibiotics for deeper skin infections.

Impetigo links:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000860.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/impetigo/DS00464/DSECTION=1

http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic283.htm


Silvadene probably comes the closest to being a desireable topical antibiotic for how I view things. YMMV. Different people will have different opinions about this. If anything, this may be the type of agent you are looking for, however, it's not really used much outside burn care. Infections associated with burns have many exceptions to the rules for other skin treatments and infections, so what is good burn care may not be good care for wounds, to give one example:
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic3/silversulf.htm

http://www.healthsquare.com/newrx/sil1404.htm


So far, the agents I have mentioned are Rx items in the US.

For OTC agents, the commonly encountered antibiotic ointments are these:

Neomycin, Polymyxin-B, Bacitracin (also called triple antibiotic, a common brand name is Neosporin).

Plain neomycin ointment.

Plain bacitracin ointment.

Polymyxin-B with Bacitracin (a common brand name is polysporin).

My preferences go to using plain bacitracin ointment if you're going to make use of thes products.



But really, if you're going to be treating significant skin infections, you really need oral and/or injectable antibiotics instead of topical agents. Keep in mind that some skin infections are sometimes managed surgically with or without antibiotics. That's applicable if you have boils or something to be drained. Significant cellulitis cases are generally managed with intravenous antibiotics initially, then switching to oral antibiotics, yet are sometimes amenable to treatment with well-chosen oral antibiotics.

Please redirect me if your intention was something other than what I have covered.

[gunsmoke]

Thank you very much for your informative response!

I already have prescriptions for and maintain a small inventory of Silvadine and Bactroban. They are excellent.

In asking about compounds containing mercury, I was looking for a replacement for Mercurichrome, my supply of which is dwindlling. My life experience with mercurichrome has been very positive and its removal from commerce caught me by surprise.

If I had known it was going to be removed at the time it was, I would have laid in a couple of cases.

[0007]

There is a company called ZeeMedical that sells a very good antiseptic "wipe" t that uses Benzalkonium Chloride as the agent. I found this stuff decades ago while in the air force. It will kill just about anything on the skin including pimples. The wipes are about $8.00/100 and I've had some for five and six years that are still good as long as you don't open the individual package. The same place also sells seveal other useful products on their website. The company actually specializes in servicing large corporate/factory first aid kits.