Facial Cellulitis

        Cellulitis is an infection in which the skin presents warmth, swelling, redness and the patient complains also about pains. In can be located almost anywhere, from the face to legs, orbit or breast. Facial cellulitis can affect persons of different ages, both sexes and without racial criteria.

Facial cellulitis causes

       This type of cellulitis is caused by different types of bacteria. The most common of all are staphylococcus and streptoccocus, when talking about adults. Among children, the Haemophilus influenzae type B ( HiB) was the main cause of facial cellulitis, but since a vaccine was made to protect children from this ailment, there is no bacteria associated with the disease, in the case of children.

       The bacteria can only enter the skin if they have some "gates" like bruises, eczema, cuts, scrapes or animal bites. Very exposed are those who have recently suffered surgical procedures, minor or not, or those who have wounds they don't take proper care of.

Risk Factors involved in the development of cellulitis

       There are some risk factors involved in contacting this disease. The most common of all is the infection of the upper respiratory tract, but also issues in the lymphatic system or infections localized in the middle ear or teeth. Note that these factors don't cause facial cellulitis, they just make the chances of developing this infection bigger.

Facial cellulitis pictures

Facial cellulitis symptoms

       The symptoms of facial cellulitis can either be local - located on the face or systemic, located in other places. The symptoms which are common to all types of cellulitis are swelling, edema and erithema. Patients may also present fever, chills, irritability, vomiting, body aches, decreased appetite. The swelling is located on the cheeks, together with redness, burning and itching. Also the tongue might get tender, warm and swollen, disturbing the patient when speaking or eating.

Diagnose of facial cellulitis

       The main steps of a control performed by the doctor are:

• physical exam
• blood tests
• checking your medical history

       So, the doctor will ask you some questions related to recent surgical interventions, teeth infections, conjunctivitis if periorbital cellulitis is also present and other medical facts related to facial cellulitis. Then, he or she will examine the area affected by this disease, looking for redness, a higher local temperature, swollen tongue or cheeks and painful places. You will also be checked if you have some lesions in the skin that could facilitate the entrance of the bacteria, like bites, open wounds or cuts. Finally, to confirm the diagnosis, blood tests can be done in order to look for a specific infection and to determine also the bacterium that caused the problem.

Facial cellulitis treatment

       The common treatment of facial, periorbital, orbital, breast celulitis and all the other types are antibiotics, because the cause of the disease is a bacterium. The purpose of the treatment is to eliminate the bacteria and to prevent the recurrence of cellulitis. Antibiotics can be administered orally or IV, at home or in the hospital. In severe cases, hospitalized IV treatment is needed, so that the infection can be eliminated under strict medical supervision, to avoid further complications.

       More than 30 percent of the patients treated for facial cellulitis will have a recurrence. In this case, the doctor will prescribe treatment for a longer period of time than for a non recurrent disease, until the infection disappears for completely.