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.
Cellulitis is an infection of the deeper layers of skin and the underlying tissue. It can be serious if not treated promptly. The infection develops suddenly and can spread through the body quickly. Severe infections can spread deep into the body, and can be life threatening.
Untreated cellulitis might lead to bacteremia, endocarditis, osteomyelitis, toxic shock syndrome or sepsis. Rarely, the infection can spread to the deep layer of tissue called the fascial lining. Necrotizing fasciitis is an example of a deep-layer infection.
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.
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.
Pain or tenderness in the affected area. Skin redness or inflammation that gets bigger as the infection spreads. Skin sore or rash that starts suddenly, and grows quickly in the first 24 hours. Tight, glossy, stretched appearance of the skin.
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.
When to seek urgent care. If redness, swelling or pain intensify over the next 24 hours, see a health care provider immediately. “If you're 48 hours out and have increased redness, that's a huge red flag,” Jake said. Other symptoms can include blisters, bruising, headache or red streaks tracking from the wound.
However, cellulitis symptoms often get worse before they get better, probably because, with the death of the bacteria, substances that cause tissue damage are released. When this release occurs, the body continues to react even though the bacteria are dead.
You may need to be hospitalized and receive antibiotics through your veins (intravenously) if: Signs and symptoms don't respond to oral antibiotics. Signs and symptoms are extensive. You have a high fever.
Severe Cellulitis
Features suggestive of necrotising fasciitis include: severe pain out of keeping with apparent severity of infection. rapid progression. marked systemic features (eg high fever with rigors, tachycardia, tachypnoea, hypotension, confusion, vomiting).
Left untreated, cellulitis can rapidly turn into a life-threatening condition. Treatment usually includes antibiotics. In severe cases, you may need to be hospitalized and receive antibiotics through your veins (intravenously).
If your cellulitis doesn't improve after 48 hours on antibiotics, you should consider going back to your provider or the emergency room to have your infection reassessed.
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.
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.
Most people make a full recovery after 7 to 10 days. If cellulitis is severe, you might be referred to hospital for treatment.
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.
Introduction: The occurrence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is often considered in patients with cellulitis and erysipelas because of the common presentation of unilateral limb swelling, erythema and pain.
Signs and Symptoms of Severe Infection
A person may also develop cold sweats, fever, and difficulty concentrating. If left untreated, rapid heartbeat can affect heart function and increase the risk of major complications such as heart failure, cardiac arrest, and stroke.
Acute right heart failure can present with impressive LE edema and erythema that can mimic cellulitis.
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.
Cellulitis can cause sepsis in some people. Sepsis, which was often called blood poisoning, is the body's life-threatening response to infection. Sepsis and septic shock can result from an infection anywhere in the body, such as pneumonia, influenza, and urinary tract infections.
“Typically, if a patient is not responding to oral antibiotics, and the cellulitis has symptoms that appear to be more involved and can't be managed with antibiotics, such as high fever or low blood pressure — systemic signs of infection — then they get intravenous antibiotics,” says Kaminska.