Symptoms of Cellulitis You Should Not Ignore

Every year in the United States, there are 14.5 million cases of cellulitis. Cellulitis is a bacterial skin infection that’s located in the deep layers of your skin and all the soft tissues underneath. It can start almost anywhere on your body, but most often affects your feet and legs. If this infection goes untreated, it can spread to other parts of your body and your bloodstream and lymph nodes.

Board-certified internal medicine and infectious disease specialist Serge Lartchenko, MD, and the rest of our expert team at Texas Infectious Disease Institute want you to know that cellulitis can lead to serious health risks. Here’s the risk factors and symptoms to watch out for and how we treat it should you come down with this infection.

Risk factors and symptoms of cellulitis

There are many factors that can increase your risk of developing cellulitis, such as:

• Having breaks or cracks in your skin
• Having a weak immune system
• Being overweight
• Having diabetes
• Having chronic limb swelling

If you have any skin conditions like athlete’s foot or eczema, that can also increase your likelihood of cellulitis. 

Some of the symptoms of cellulitis include:

• Swelling
• Irritated skin
• Pain and tenderness
• Blisters
• Fever and chills

If you have a serious skin infection, you’ll notice right away since it’s extremely uncomfortable. Cellulitis can advance quickly and lead to other serious health conditions like bone infections. If you notice that you have any of these listed symptoms, seek medical help immediately.

Treatment options

At the Texas Infectious Disease Institute, we are experts and have years of experience when it comes to treating cellulitis. No case of cellulitis is too complex. 

We start off by giving you intravenous antibiotics in order to help your body fight off the infection quickly. Our team then evaluates you regularly to make sure the treatment is working properly. If necessary, we’ll adjust the dosage in order to completely eradicate the infection.

Our team helps you manage your fever and pain with medication and monitors you closely until the symptoms go away.

Next steps

To prevent cellulitis in the future, keep any wound site clean and covered with a bandage. If you notice any signs of infection, it’s important to get it looked at right away since early detection offers better results. 

If you’d like to schedule a consultation with our team, contact us today to set up an appointment. You can do this by calling our office located in Richardson, Texas, at 469-960-4413 or by using our online scheduler today.