Cellulitis - Causes, Symptoms and Treatment for Cellulitis

Cellulitis is a common inflammation of the connective tissue underlying the skin. It appears when bacteria occupy broken or normal skin, cuts, burns, insect bites, surgical wounds, or sites of endovenous catheter insertion and start to spread just beneath the skin or in the skin itself. This leads to an infection and inflammation of the cells, erythema, edema, and warmth.

Cellulitis can occur on any part of your body but lower legs or skin on the face are most commonly affected by this infection .Staphylococcus ("staph") is the main bacteria which causes cellulitis. Occasionally, some other bacteria may cause cellulitis as well.

As a spreading infection cellulitis generally
starts as a small region of tenderness, swelling, and skin redness . As this red region starts to increase, the person may result a fever, sometimes with chills and sweats, and swollen glands near the area of infected skin.

Causes

Cellulitis may be caused by many different bacteria but streptococcus and staphylococcus are the most common originator of these bacteria, which are normally exist on the skin but cause no actual infection until the skin is broken.So cellulitis is started by entering by way of a break in the skin. This break can't be visible by naked eye. Predisposing conditions for cellulitis include insect bite, animal bite, pruritic skin rash, recent surgery , athlete's foot , dry skin , eczema , burns & boils , though there is debate as to whether minor foot lesions contribute .Streptococci spread instantly in the skin because they produce enzymes that impede the ability of the tissue to confine the infection.

Pneumococcus may result a specifically malignant form of cellulitis, usually in an immunocompromised host, and frequently is combined with tissue necrosis, suppuration, and blood stream invasion.

There are some reported cases of cellulitis where it appears on areas of trauma, the broken skin, such as the skin near ulcers or surgical wounds. Also some wounds appearing after exposure to fresh water may be lead to Aeromonas hydrophila, a gram-negative rod.

Symptoms

Cellulitis can be occurred anywhere in the body but it most commonly develops on the legs.The main symptoms are skin redness or inflammation that spreads in size as the infection spreads , tight, glossy, stretched occurrence of the skin , tenderness of the area , skin injury or rash, sudden onset ,warmth over the redskin,fever .there are some other signs of infection includes chills, shaking, fatigue, warm skin, sweating, muscle aches, myalgias. Some of the additional symptoms that may be related with this disease are nausea, vomiting & hair loss at the site of infection

In some advanced cases of cellulitis, red streaks may be seen moving up the affected area. The swelling can spread frequently. The infected skin gets hot and slightly swollen and may look slightly pockmarked, like an orange peel.The swelling appears due to the infection blocks the lymphatic vessels in the skin.

Treatments

Antibiotics are used to control infection, and analgesics may be needed to ebb pain. Commonly used oral antibiotics are penicillin, flucloxacillin, cefuroxime or erythromycin. Antibiotics taken are penicillin-based antibiotics (e.g. penicillin G or flucloxacillin) or cephalosporins (e.g. cefotaxime or cefazolin).

Clindamycin and vancomycin are efficacious antibiotics in patients with serious penicillin or cephalosporin allergy.

Amoxicillin and clavulanic acid may be used in the situations where a broader antibiotic cover is required, for example a diabetic patient with a foot ulcer.

It is recommend that person should wear long sleeves and pants in high risk areas e.g. gardening. Maintained proper hygiene& keep skin clean and well moisturized, with nails well tended, avoid having blood tests using from the affected limb , cure fungal infections of hands and feet early, keep swollen limbs elevated during rest periods to cure lymphatic circulation.

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