Some Facelift Patients Infected With MRSA 'Superbug'

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Two of the patients who tested positive for MRSA were admitted to a hospital for antibiotic therapy. Both of them may have been exposed to MRSA before their facelifts. One patient had spent time with her husband, who had been in a cardiac intensive-care unit four months earlier; the other had contact with her brother-in-law, a cardiologist, the study authors noted.

Salomon said that because the rate of infection after facelift surgery is extremely low, some doctors may be less vigilant in creating a sterile environment for the procedure.

"Historically, the incidence of infection after facelift is extraordinarily low, even without pre-operative shampoos or peri-operative antibiotics," Salomon said. "Facelift surgery has been one of the most casual operations in terms of attention to creating a sterile field simply because the incidence of infection is so low."

Other risk factors for MRSA infection include having taken antibiotics or having been hospitalized recently, contact with health-care workers, previous MRSA infection, older age, diabetes, smoking and obesity, the study authors said.

"With the rise of MRSA colonization and infections, facial plastic surgeons performing rhytidectomy [facelift] and other soft tissue procedures may want to consider introducing screening protocols to identify patients who are at increased risk for infection," Zoumalan and Rosenberg wrote. "During preoperative evaluation, a full medical history should include information on possible prior contacts with persons at high risk for carrying MRSA."

More information

To learn more about MRSA, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.