Treatments
Necrotizing fasciitis is extremely detrimental and early treatment is very critical to your survival and chances of keeping your limbs or whatever part of your body is infected. The sooner the treatment, the better your chances of surviving (WebMD). There are different ways to treat Necrotizing fasciitis:
- Antibiotics will almost always be the immediate action upon the time of preliminary diagnosis. The types of antibiotics used will vary and multiple types could be used at once. Reason for this is to prevent the patient from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, infections with anaerobic bacteria, and polymicrobic infections. Other antibiotic treatment includes penicillin G and an aminoglycoside, just in case renal failure permits (Medscape Reference).
- Surgery is almost always needed, usually it's more than a couple procedures to control the infection or to completely rid the patient of all the bacteria. Early surgical debridement can also minimize the tissue loss. Depending on the severity of the infection and where the infection has spread, amputation may be necessary to save the person's life (Medscape Reference).
- The surgical incisions should be deep and extend beyond the necrosis until healthy tissue is reached. Adding to that, these type of surgical procedures should be repeated almost on a daily basis until the necrosis as stopped spreading. This usually results in large chunks of tissue and muscle becoming removed from the person (Medscape Reference).
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may also be needed. This procedure destroys the anaerobic bacteria inside the infected person and could prevent tissue death and also promote healing due to the oxygen (Medscape Reference).