A common abscess incision and drainage at surgery center facility in Massachusetts includes
| |
Units |
Avg Cash price |
Provider |
Provider fee to drain blood or other fluid from skin, or drain a tailbone cyst, or drain built up blood/fluid
Complicated
Standard
|
1 |
$267 |
Facility |
Surgery center fee to drain blood or other fluid from skin, or drain a tailbone cyst, or drain built up blood/fluid
Standard
Standard
|
1 |
$166 |
Total average cash price |
|
A common abscess incision and drainage at outpatient hospital facility in Massachusetts includes
| |
Units |
Avg Cash price |
Provider |
Provider fee to drain blood or other fluid from skin, or drain a tailbone cyst, or drain built up blood/fluid
Complicated
Standard
|
1 |
$267 |
Facility |
Outpatient Hospital fee to drain blood or other fluid from skin, or drain a tailbone cyst, or drain built up blood/fluid
level 2
Standard
|
1 |
$458 |
Total average cash price |
|
An abscess is a cluster of bodily fluids, typically resulting from a bacterial infection. Abscesses can form anywhere on or in the body. For example, skin abscesses develop under the top layer of skin and create a visible bulge. Internal abscesses can develop anywhere in the body, including within an organ or in the spaces between organs.
Before an abscess is drained, a trained medical professional must evaluate it. Depending on the size and location of the abscess, you may be placed on a round of antibiotics to improve your condition before an incision and drainage are considered.
Small skin abscesses will typically drain on their own. Deep abscesses extending into the skin more than 0.4 cm will likely need to be drained by a medical professional.
Symptoms of infection that haven’t responded to antibiotics may require an abscess to be drained regardless of size. Your doctor may also choose to drain your abscess if it is causing you pain.
Abscess incision and drainage are considered minor surgery. In most cases, you will remain awake and receive only a local anesthetic to numb the area around the abscess before the procedure. The incision and drainage can take place in your doctor’s office. Check online for a quote regarding how much abscess drainage usually costs in your area.
For internal abscesses, your doctor might need the help of a CT scan to reach the abscess and place a drain. If the incision and drainage fail to remove the collected fluids, then you may have to be placed under general anesthesia to have surgical drainage in the operating room.
An abscess incision and drainage procedure should not hurt. The doctor will inject a local anesthetic, which may cause a burning sensation. This quickly goes away, and the area around the abscess becomes numb to the touch.
There might be some pain after the procedure, but it shouldn’t be any more painful than the abscess felt before the surgery.
After you have an abscess drained, the doctor might prescribe oral antibiotics to help heal your infection. The incision site may drain pus for a couple of days after the procedure. For very deep abscesses, the doctor might pack the abscess site with gauze that needs to be removed after a few days.
You might not need antibiotics after abscess drainage. Your doctor will examine the fluid drained from the abscess and your past medical history to determine if antibiotics are necessary. If you have a history of antibiotic-resistant infections or many past abscesses, you will likely need to take a course of antibiotics after your drainage procedure. For help with prescription insurance costs, consider a customized health insurance plan.
If the drainage was done successfully, an abscess should not come back. However, if the cause of the abscess wasn’t completely eliminated with antibiotics and drainage, it could recur in the same spot. If you don’t take your antibiotics as prescribed, it increases your risk of developing a future antibiotic-resistant abscess.
About the abscess incision and drainage Average Cash Prices
This procedure is most commonly performed at either a surgery center or an outpatient hospital.
Surgery centers, also known as ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), are independent, licensed medical
facilities that are governed by distinct regulatory requirements compared with a hospital. Procedures
performed at an ASCs are often less expensive than when they are performed at an outpatient hospital,
but they typically offer fewer complimentary services, and may not have the full-range of support
services that a hospital provides.
Outpatient facilities are outpatient departments or clinics that may be within or next to a hospital,
but is owned and run by the affiliated hospital. These facilities can perform surgical treatments and
procedures that do not require an overnight stay. Procedures performed at an outpatient hospital are
often more expensive than when they are performed in an ambulatory surgery center, but outpatient
hospitals may offer more complimentary and support services for patients because they are connected to
the hospital system.
