A prospective clinical study was performed on 62 patients with peritonsillar abscesses at Ben Taub General Hospital, Houston. The abscesses were treated with either incision and drainage or needle aspiration alone. The recovery period was similar in both groups, but two of the 41 patients initially treated with aspiration had an immediate recurrence. These were successfully treated with subsequent incision and drainage. The advantages of needle aspiration alone as the primary drainage procedure outweigh the acceptably low failure rate, making it the initial procedure of choice.