How long for a skin infection to clear?

I had a small infection of the hair folicle several weeks ago that seemed to blow up into a bigger infection. I saw a doctor and he prescribed a 7-day oral antibiotic (Keflex) and said to use OTC antibiotic ointment (Polysporin) and a thick bandage. I%26#039;ve been doing this and it has been a week now. The infection looks better but there is still some minor leakage that can be seen when changing the bandage.





Does these infections normally take more than a week to clear? Or would this mean that the antibiotic isn%26#039;t working very well and need something stronger?|||A staph infection of the skin (which is most likely the organism) can take 7 to 14 days to clear, typically. But it depends on the severity of the infection, how big it is, and the type of staph being dealt with.





Since it seems to be responding to anti-biotics, it is probably working but it will just take another week or so. But you can ask the doctor to be sure. The oral antibiotic will most likely not clear the infection on its own. That is more as a precaution to prevent the infection from spreading deeper into the tissue. So he will probably tell you to continue the topical antibiotic for another week. If it still hasn%26#039;t cleared by then, he will probably need give you a stronger topical anti-biotic