Symptoms of Cellulitis
The chances of having cellulitis is higher if you:
- Have weak circulation in the arms, legs, hands or feet, for instance, due to overweight.
- Find it hard to walk around
- Inject drugs
- Have developed cellulitis before
- Have a fragile immune system, for example, due to chemotherapy treatment or diabetes
- Have a wound from surgery
- Have lymphoedema [3] which makes fluid accumulate beneath the skin. When a healthy vein is removed from the leg and linked with the coronary artery to enhance blood flow to the heart (coronary artery [4] bypass grafting).
- Recent skin injuries such as cuts, wounds, scrapes, bites, tattoos, piercings, ulcers or injection drug use)
- A fungal or viral skin infection such as athlete’s foot or chicken pox
- Chronic skin diseases such as eczema [5]
- Prior radiation therapy to the area
People that have higher chances of developing cellulitis should treat athlete’s foot [6] immediately. If cellulitis is left untreated it could lead to severe infections, vein swelling if blood clots develop close to the skin (thrombophlebitis), and necrotizing fasciitis (in severe cases).