September is Sepsis Awareness Month. The purpose of this event is to raise awareness about septicemia and provide help to promote research into the treatment and prevention of disorders of the circulatory system. The understanding of the vascular disease by the general public is often poor, and most people don’t realize the risks and complications that cellulitis and erysipelas can cause.
Conditions such as warty skin, venous eczema and fibrosis which can be reversed, are entry points for microbes. Lymph stasis may also facilitate bacterial growth and impede bacterial and toxin clearance, and cellulitis also seems to impair the lymphatics, thus lymphedema therapy is targeted at stopping the vicious cycle. Chronic edema management is already widely recognized as an adjuvant to antibiotic prophylaxis for recurrent cellulitis.
Studies have shown that the control of swelling is associated with a significantly lower risk of cellulitis, and that advanced stages of chronic edema are a strong risk factor, and that cellulitis may be preventable in the majority of cases. Evidence also supports that compression garments are essential to control swelling and stop progression to advanced stages.
The implementation of compression therapy has been reported to decrease the incidence of cellulitis and thus acute care healthcare costs. Treatment and prevention of cellulitis require an interprofessional approach, and there is evidence that Complete Decongestive Therapy (CDT) reduces the frequency of attacks. Without prompt diagnosis and correct treatment, cellulitis could lead to bacterial infection that reaches the bloodstream and severe complications such as bacteremia and Sepsis. Read more about what is the best treatment option for lymphatic edema HERE.
References:
(Pinch on the text to read the following Research Article)
- Cellulitis: clinical manifestations and management.
- Diagnosisand management of cellulitis.
- Cellulitis.
- Erysipelas: a common potentially dangerous infection.
- Erysipelasand cellulitis: Overview.
- Clinical features, microbiological epidemiology, and recommendations for the management of cellulitis in extremity lymphedema.
- Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). The most common cause of lower extremity lymphedema.
- Associationof Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease and Deep Venous Thrombosiswith Risk of Consequent Sepsis Event: A RetrospectivePopulation-Based Cohort Study.
- Lipedema,a barely known disease: diagnosis, associated diseases, and therapy.
