As discussed in the
Emergency Department prior to discharge, you have been diagnosed with
cellulitis of the [location]. Cellulitis
is an infection of the skin. It usually looks like a bright pink or red patch
of skin, and it is very warm to the touch.
It is important for you to
monitor the size of the cellulitis after you begin your antibiotics. To do this, you can take a regular pen and
draw a line around the area of redness if this was not done in the Emergency
Department. Look at the wound every day
to observe whether it is getting bigger (crossing beyond the pen line) or
smaller. The size of the red area should
decrease every day. Whilst it might
become a little bigger on day one of the antibiotics, the redness should become
smaller by day two.
Make sure that you take
your prescribed antibiotics as directed, for the full course (don’t stop
early).
Another way to help the
cellulitis to heal is to keep it elevated as much as you can. For example, if the cellulitis is on your
forearm, keep your arm up as much as you can (like you are the queen and about
to wave at your subjects), so that gravity can drain the swelling away. If the cellulitis is on your leg, you can
prop up your leg on a chair when you are sitting down, or put pillows under
your leg when you are sleeping. This
helps to remove the inflammation from around the area. Don’t use the limb excessively, to allow it
to heal (i.e. no long walks if the cellulitis is on your leg).
Return to the Emergency Department if the pink or red area is not smaller by day two after
starting antibiotics, you see a red streak going up your arm or leg after
starting antibiotics, you develop a new fever (≥38.0 °C or 100.4 °F) or a fever
that hasn’t resolved by day two of antibiotics, or for any new or concerning
symptoms.
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