Treatment of impetigo and ecthyma.

A comparison of the treatment of superficial skin infections using intramuscular benzathine penicillin G alone or combined with hexachlorophene scrubbing was conducted in 127 children. Of 72 children treated with benzathine penicillin alone, 94.4 percent had a good result. Of the 55 children receiving hexachlorophene scrubbing in addition to penicillin, 85.5 percent had a good result. The healing rate was higher (93 percent) in those children whose skin cultures grew Group A beta hemolytic streptococci. When staphylococcus aureus was the only pathogen isolated, the healing rate was 86 percent. Regardless of the pathogens isolated, the healing rate was not increased with scrubbing. Since scrubbing with hexachlorophene offered no improvement in the healing rate and since it adds to the expense and discomfort of treatment, it should be eliminated as part of the treatment.