Facial Cellulitis

Cellulitis is an infection that is caused by bacteria. When it affects your face it is called facial cellulitis. This infection can affect both children and adults. Cellulitis is caused by three types of bacteria, namely, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus and Haemophilus influenzae.

A person with facial cellulitis experiences swelling, redness and pain in the skin on his or her face. Apart from the skin being infected, the person also has swelling and pain in the tongue. The other symptoms include fever, irritability, body aches and decreased appetite. Once you notice these symptoms it is mandatory that you go to the doctor to get the symptoms diagnosed. This is because this infection can present considerable risk factors to the person. Once diagnosed appropriate treatment can be provided to the person and the infection can be quelled.

There are a number of ways which the doctors employ to diagnose cellulitis. One simple way is to touch the affected are. It will be tender and warm. When this is combined with the redness that the doctor can see, he can include cellulitis in the possible infections list. To confirm this, he check if the person has any open wounds or cuts which may have facilitated the entry of the bacteria into the blood stream of the person and thus causing the infection. Even if the doctor does find an open wound or cut, he cannot be conclusive about the infection. The sure-shot way of confirming cellulitis is to conduct a blood test. If bacteria are present in the blood, the doctor can confirm Cellulitis.

Once the infection has been diagnosed as it posed considerable threats to your body. Facial cellulitis can infect your brain which results in meningitis. There are some other rare conditions that can develop when you have cellulitis. These are thrombophlebitis and Gangrene which are rare and you do not have to be too concerned about it. But you have to realise that, if you do not get cellulitis treated quickly then you are at the risk of developing the above mentioned conditions too. If you have diabetes, then your immune system is not in very good shape. In this situation if you are infected with cellulitis, this will balloon to other potentially complicated problems that can put you in a great deal of difficulty.

There are various treatments available for getting rid of cellulitis. This is a recurring infection and hence the foremost form of treatment should be preventive in nature. You should be generally hygienic and should avoid contact with food that is spoilt. If you have diabetes, you should take extra care of not cutting yourself and thus exposing and open wound or cut through with bacteria can enter. You should regularly clean the affect area if you have already contracted the infection and take the prescribed medicine regularly. As the infection is caused by bacteria, the best form of medicine is antibiotics. You can take antibiotics orally or intravenously. If you have an open wound or cut and are susceptible to bacterial infection, it is a good idea to take antibiotics to prevent the infection.