How Do You Get Cellulitis?

Cellulitis causes pain, blindness, even death. How do you get cellulitis? Find out your risk and how to treat this dangerous skin infection.

Cellulitis is a bacterial skin infection. It affects the deepest layers of your skin, known as the subcutis and hypodermis. The most common causes are bacteria: Staphylococcus, or staph, and types of Streptococcus, or strep.

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Localized cellulitis often resolves quickly with treatment. Severe cellulitis, however, can cause serious complications. They include:

• Deep skin infections, such as abscesses
• Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, known as meningitis
• Blindness
• Blood poisoning
• Even death

There are more than 14 million cases of cellulitis every year in the United States. To keep yourself safe and prevent serious complications, it’s important to know how people get cellulitis and what you should do if you suspect you have an infection.

How do you get cellulitis?

You usually get cellulitis when an injury becomes infected with bacteria. Injuries that can develop cellulitis infections include:

• Abrasions, scrapes, or puncture wounds
• Insect bites
• Skin problems, such as psoriasis, eczema, or acne
• Burns or sores
• Impetigo
• Fungal infections
• Surgical wounds

If you have a weakened immune system due to cancer or certain medications, you are more likely to develop cellulitis because your body is less able to fight off a bacterial infection. Your risk is also higher if you have poor circulation due to conditions such as type 1 or type diabetes or peripheral artery disease.

Symptoms of cellulitis

Early symptoms of cellulitis are irritation and inflammation of your skin. In some cases, you can mistake infections for pimples or boils. Other symptoms of cellulitis include:

• Redness and swelling
• Tenderness, warmth, and pain
• Bruising
• Blisters
• Headache, chills, or low fever
• Weakness

Some symptoms of cellulitis may look similar to necrotizing fasciitis, but flesh-eating bacteria do not cause cellulitis. Severe cases, though, can be deadly. If you notice these severe symptoms, you should go to an emergency room immediately:

• Large areas of inflamed, red skin
• Red streaks spreading out from an injury
• Red or swollen area around your eyes or ears
• Numbness or tingling in your hands, arms, feet, or legs
• Fever over 104° F
• Skin that appears black

Cellulitis of the eye

Cellulitis can develop in the soft tissues of your eye. Cellulitis of the eye most often affects children, though it can occur in adults as well. There are two variations.

Periorbital cellulitis is an infection of the eyelid or skin around your eye. It usually occurs when an injury or bug bite in those areas becomes infected. Symptoms include:

• Redness around your eye or the white of your eye
• Swelling of the eyelid or around your eye

Periorbital cellulitis does not cause severe pain or blindness. If the bacteria spread, however, it can develop into orbital cellulitis.

Orbital cellulitis occurs when the fat and muscle around your eye become infected. It can develop from milder cellulitis or a bacterial sinus infection, affecting your cheeks, eyelids, and eyebrows. Symptoms include:

• Painful swelling of eyelids, eyebrows, or cheeks
• Bulging eyes
• Shiny, purple, or red eyelid
• Decreased vision
• Fever or general ill feeling
• Difficult or painful eye movements

This type of cellulitis of the eye can cause blindness, hearing loss, or death. If you experience symptoms of either orbital or periorbital cellulitis, seek medical help immediately.

Cellulitis of the face

Cellulitis of the face often develops after cuts or injuries, head surgery, or infections like sinusitis. Symptoms of facial cellulitis include:

• Pain and swelling
• Red, tight, or glossy areas on your face
• Sores or rashes that grow quickly
• Warmth or tenderness
• Abscesses with pus
• Fever

Cellulitis of the face also commonly occurs after dental surgery or as a result of poor dental care. Abscesses, cavities, open gum sores, or other oral injuries can develop infections that cause bacteria to enter the deep tissue of your face. Facial cellulitis can be life-threatening and expensive to treat, but regular dental care can often prevent it.

Like other forms of cellulitis, facial cellulitis requires immediate medical intervention.

How do you treat cellulitis?

Because it is a bacterial infection, cellulitis is treated with topical or oral antibiotics.

A cool, wet dressing on the site of the infection, as well as elevating any affected limbs, can help relieve pain, and anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen can reduce swelling. Keep the area of infection clean while you rest and give your body time to heal.

The most severe cellulitis infections require intravenous antibiotics and, in some cases, surgery to remove dead tissue. If you have severe cellulitis, you will likely need to be hospitalized for at least a week to completely treat the infection.

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