[Topical antibiotics and clinical use].

Topical antibiotics offer a useful alternative to oral and parenteral agents in certain conditions and have some advantages such as easy to use, lower side effects, higher drug concentrations in the infected area, lower risk of developing bacterial resistance and being economical. The goals of topical antimicrobial therapy are to control microbial colonization, thus preventing development of invasive infections, prophylaxis and treatment of wound infections, pyodermas, burn infections and acne vulgaris, and eradication of Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage. Topical antibiotics of choice include bacitracin, neomycin, polymyxin B, mupirocin, nitrofurazone and fusidic acid. In this review article, the characteristics and clinical uses of topical antimicrobials have been summarized.