Patients who had a single abscess
with a greatest diameter up to 5.0 cm (≤3.0 cm in
patients 6 to 11 months of age and ≤4.0 cm in
patients 1 to 8 years of age) were stratified into
the limited-abscess group. All other patients, including
those with an abscess greater than 5.0 cm
in diameter (and proportionally smaller in young children), patients with two or more sites of skin
infection, and patients with cellulitis without abscess
(including erysipelas), were stratified into the
larger-abscess–cellulitis group. The size of the abscess
cavity was measured manually in three dimensions
(width, length, and depth) and recorded
on a standardized form. All abscesses were treated
by means of incision and drainage. In this article,
we describe the results for the larger-abscess–cellulitis
group only.