Bacteriological study of epidermal cysts.

The aim of this study was to determine whether bacterial infection plays a significant role in the inflammatory process of epidermal cysts. Samples from 152 patients (115 cases of inflamed and 37 of uninflamed epidermal cysts) were subjected to aerobic and anaerobic bacterial culture and the isolates were investigated. The rate of bacterial growth and the recovered anaerobes were significantly greater in the inflamed than the uninflamed epidermal cysts. However, it is difficult to determine whether recovered isolates from epidermal cysts represent "infection" or "colonization". In conclusion, this study revealed the predominance of anaerobes in inflamed cysts, strongly suggesting that anaerobes play a role in the inflammatory process.