Cellulitis is a treatable skin disorder. Proper hygiene and medical care are vital for complete treatment and healing of the deadly skin disease caused by bacteria. However, let us first take a brief look at what is cellulitis.
WHAT IS CELLULITIS?
Cellulitis is a bacterial skin disorder characterized by warm, blistered skin with discoloration in the affected areas. The skin condition should be treated as fast as possible in order to avoid severe complications. The disorder is treatable and curable with proper medical care.
TREATMENT OF CELLULITIS
The treatment of cellulitis usually is the prescription of oral antibiotics. Within a few days of intake of antibiotics, it is necessary to inform your doctor about the performance of the antibiotic against the bacteria; whether the medicine is responding to the infection or not. The prescription and consultation with a doctor last for around 10 days. However, in some cases, it may last up to 14 days.
In most cases, the antibiotics respond positively to the infection and the skin irritation, discoloration, etc. starts to fade away. In spite of that, one may need to be immediately hospitalized and ingest antibiotics through one’s veins, if:
- There is no response towards signs and symptoms through the antibiotics
- The signs and symptoms keep on persisting and are extensive
- The body temperature increases, leading to a high fever
It is always advised to treat and clean the cuts and wounds on your skin. This is because the causative bacteria (streptococci and staphylococci) generally dwell on our skin and do no harm. However, whenever there is a cut or wound in the body, they start multiplying, enter our body, and cause infection.
The doctor may prescribe you medicinal drugs effective against staphylococci and streptococci. It is mandatory and important to complete the entire course of medication even after you start “feeling better”.
CELLULITIS HEALING STAGES
It is certainly easy to track the healing stages of cellulitis as they can be tracked visually. The symptoms start disappearing after a few days of medication. Cellulitis healing stages look like this:
- Reduced pain in the area of infection
- Less firmness in the affected area
- The swelling decreases over time
- Redness is almost faded or diminished
It is necessary to keep in mind, that sometimes before the medicine kicks in, the symptoms of cellulitis may get worse before getting better. There are a few things you can do at home while waiting for the medicine to kick in.
These include the following:
- Elevating or raising the affected limb over the heart level to reduce swelling
- Adapting to wear loose fitted clothing
- Application of cool compresses over the affected site
- If professionally advised, one can take over-the-counter pain medication to reduce the pain
It is likely that the cellulitis symptoms start reducing and finally fade away before even finishing the period of medication. However, it is emphasized to complete the medication course in order to avoid any serious complications.
