Cellulitis is a common skin condition that mostly affects children and people with wounds, chronic skin conditions or a weakened immune system.
Cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the deep layers of your skin and the tissue beneath your skin. Although it's common in adults and children, Without treatment the infection can spread quickly and permanently damage your immune system.
Anyone can get cellulitis, but you're at an increased risk if: you're obese. you have poor circulation in your arms, legs, hands or feet. you have a weakened immune system – for example, because of HIV or chemotherapy treatment.
Anyone can get cellulitis, but some factors can increase the risk of getting this infection.
Weak Immune System
An autoimmune disease — such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis — can also weaken the immune system. This not only makes you vulnerable to cellulitis, but also to other infections, such colds and the flu.
Another skin condition that can occur on the leg and look like cellulitis is gout. Gout happens when crystals form in a joint, usually the big toe, which causes inflammation that leads to redness near the joint. The area is tender, swollen, and warm, like cellulitis. However, these symptoms are not caused by infection.
What causes cellulitis. Cellulitis is usually caused by a bacterial infection. The bacteria can infect the deeper layers of your skin if it's broken, for example, because of an insect bite or cut, or if it's cracked and dry. Sometimes the break in the skin is too small to notice.
If you've had cellulitis, you have a higher risk of getting it again. Even after successful treatment, some people get cellulitis again and again. For most people, the cellulitis develops in the same place every time.
Wash the area with clean water 2 times a day. Don't use hydrogen peroxide or alcohol, which can slow healing. You may cover the area with a thin layer of petroleum jelly, such as Vaseline, and a non-stick bandage. Apply more petroleum jelly and replace the bandage as needed.
Avoid hot, spicy, oily, fried and pungent food, junk food, fast food, and outside food. Avoid sour foods. Avoid food that is incompatible to each other such as Milk with salty foods, Fish. Avoid constipation, stress and anxiety.
Complications of cellulitis can be very serious. These can include extensive tissue damage and tissue death (gangrene). The infection can also spread to the blood, bones, lymph system, heart, or nervous system. These infections can lead to amputation, shock, or even death.
Symptoms of cellulitis include: Fever with chills and sweating. Fatigue.
Cellulitis is caused when bacteria, most commonly streptococcus and staphylococcus, enter through a crack or break in the skin. The incidence of a more serious staphylococcus infection called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is increasing.
With proper treatment and care, small patches of cellulitis can heal in around five or seven days. However, the healing process is largely influenced by the severity of your cellulitis as well as your current health condition. For example, severe cases of cellulitis can last for multiple weeks despite treatment.
Patients with cellulitis will reveal an affected skin area typically with a poorly demarcated area of erythema. The erythematous area is often warm to the touch with associated swelling and tenderness to palpation. The patient may present with constitutional symptoms of generalized malaise, fatigue, and fevers.
Cellulitis. Heavy drinking can make you more likely to get cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection that usually affects your lower legs. It makes the skin there red, swollen, painful, and warm to the touch. The bacteria get into your body through a cut or wound in your skin.
You may need to keep your foot elevated as much as possible for at least 48 hours. However, to aid circulation, you should go for short walks every now and then and wiggle your toes regularly when your foot is raised. If you have cellulitis in a forearm or hand, a high sling can help to raise the affected area.
Movement and Exercise o Gentle movement, exercise and activities will help the muscles pump lymph fluid (the fluid that causes oedema) more effectively through your body.
Cellulitis treatment usually includes a prescription oral antibiotic. Within three days of starting an antibiotic, let your health care provider know whether the infection is responding to treatment. You'll need to take the antibiotic for the full course, usually 5 to 10 days, even if you start to feel better.
Scientists have not studied the way individual nutrients may treat cellulitis, however, flavonoids -- chemicals in fruits, such as citrus, blueberries, grapes; in vegetables, including onions; and in tea and red wine -- seem to help reduce lymphedema, and the risk for cellulitis.
A blood test will confirm whether the cellulitis infection has spread to your blood. Skin test. A skin test will identify the type of bacteria responsible for your cellulitis, which helps your healthcare provider prescribe the most appropriate antibiotic.
If you have impetigo, cellulitis, chickenpox or exanthemata, you should avoid going swimming until your skin has recovered.
What is Wells' syndrome? Wells' syndrome is a rare disease which also goes by the name "eosinophilic cellulitis." In this disease, itchy, burning, red, and inflamed areas can form anywhere on the skin. The inflamed areas can look like a skin infection called cellulitis, but there is no true infection present.
Cellulitis — The most common symptom of cellulitis is dull pain or tenderness in the area of skin involvement. Other cellulitis symptoms can include swelling, warmth, and redness in a distinct area of skin. These symptoms commonly worsen, and the redness may expand over the course of hours or days.
Cellulitis is considered an emergency when the infection begins to spread and become severe. Severe symptoms that indicate an emergency—and necessitate immediate medical care—include fever, chills, the affected area turning black, and numbness or tingling of the affected area.