A pharmaceutical composition for treating skin infections is described herein. A method using a pharmaceutical composition for treating skin infections is described herein. A pharmaceutical composition for treating skin infections may comprise, in 100 parts of the composition, 1-99 parts of a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient 99-1 parts of a keratolytic 99-1 parts ethyl pyruvate and 99-1 parts povidone iodine. A method for treating skin infections may comprise topical application of a composition to an infected skin cell for a treatment period.