My younger brother recently got swelling and redness on his face. we rushed him to the emergency room where they gave him an antibiotic and told us it was an infection. they also mentioned something about cellulitus, but did not explain. could someone please explain this to us. thanks.

Cellulitis just means an inflammation of the skin. Normally, cellulitis is more likely to occur on the skin of the legs that become very hot and red, however, it can occur on any part of the body and the face, either inside or outside is another place where it can occur.

Antibiotics should clear this up pretty quickly, as cellulitis is mostly caused by bacteria rather than viruses.

Hope this helps?

Sorry to be nitpicky here, but cellulitis doesn't mean infection of that skin. Usually an infection of the skin will be a dermatitis. Cellulitis is the inflammation of the deep connective tissue which is located underneath the skin. It is more serious than a skin infection, and needs to be controlled quickly or it can cause severe damage and abscesses.

Sorry this happened. I had this same thing about 13yrs ago. It was finally diagnosed as Erysipelis.(cellulitis ). I thought I was coming down with the flu, 102fever and chills so left work. My lymph nodes at the back of my neck were enlarged and I could feel the swelling up the back of my head. By morning there was a thick red area moving down my forhead.

The Dr. didnt know what it was so sent me to Infectious Disease Dr.
He knew right away. Said he had seen 4 cases that month. It is a strep infection. I hadhad a sore throat for a week or so with no other symptoms and it then went away. I also had a bad cut in my hand. Anyway, they gave me a big dose of benedryl and penicillin for 10days. My regular Dr. said I was lucky not to be hospitalized.

If they take all the antibiotic it will be ok. One of my older coworkers at the time remembered when her mom had this back before antibiotics. she nearly died from it. So I guess we are lucky.

Good luck.

I HAD TO REPLY TOTHIS ONE! About 2 yrs. ago, I went to have my eyebrows waxed. Hubb and I both noticed that the skin was EXTREMELY redder than usual after this procedure. About 2-3 days later.. I woke up with my left eye brow , well for lack of better wods, paralyzed!! It was unreal! It was STUCK in a "frightened" position. I WAS TOTALLY FREAKED! I went straight to an optomitrist, ansshe sent me to an opthamologist. He was calling in his head guy there and they had never seen anything like it. Saiod it couldn't be a stroke, or it would not be stayig that way, and it wan't Bells palsy (sp?) did a lil culture..and yep.. cellulitus. The only thing we could come up with was the eyebrow waxing. He said the wax could have ben infected, or the tweezers she used to get the tiny hairs may not have been clean. VERY STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN TO ME!! I was on antibiotics. I have pics ( don't ask me why, ) of my ONE eyebrow frozen UPPPPPP.

My younger brother recently got swelling and redness on his face. we rushed him to the emergency room where they gave him an antibiotic and told us it was an infection. they also mentioned something about cellulitus, but did not explain. could someone please explain this to us. thanks.

Cellulitus is under the skin, however, it can be seen on the outside by red, heat and pain. It also can spread this is why it is important to have it treated with antibiotics to prevent further damage. On 2 separte occasions, I had this after receiving vaccinations. The first time, it wasn't so bad but the second time, I suffered with this for about 6 months and it spread, well beyond the original site.