Site Introduction

The purpose of this website is to find and showcase reliable information about cellulitis infections to provide information to persons interested in this common medical condition. The website will be updated periodically as we find new facts about cellulitis in related medical literature, science magazines, research journals and more.

The reason we decided to collect and present information which only concerns cellulitis skin infections is that other health websites typically focus on many different health conditions and we think there is merit in sites that specialize in a single health problem and give more detailed information regarding a health condition. Please do not hesitate to give your proposals for improvement of this website.

Cellulitis Definition

The term "cellulitis" literally means "inflammation of the cells." However, the etymology of the word does not provide very much information about which part of the body the inflammation is actually affecting, as the entire body is composed of cells. Cellulitis is actually a type of skin infection. The skin is composed of multiple layers. The protective outer layer, or epidermis, is composed of dead, keratinized cells that are not really capable of being infected because they are no longer metabolically active. Cellulitis affects the deeper, living layer of skin called the dermis, and can easily spread to the subcutaneous fat and connective tissue that lies directly underneath the dermis layer of the skin.

General Description of Cellulitis

Cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the skin. The bacteria that are most likely to cause skin infections are usually pretty commonly found in the environment around human beings. Some of them are even found on a large proportion of people's skin. The most common causative agents of cellulitis are the Group A Streptococcus bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus. Bacteria can enter the skin when the epidermal barrier is breached due to minor trauma, such as a scrape, cut or bruise. This is why disinfecting cuts is important. Bacteria are everywhere around us. We can not get rid of them, nor would we want to, as they usually are harmless or even beneficial. However, some types of bacteria can cause infections in humans, and cellulitis is one of the possible infections.

The most common signs and symptoms of cellulitis are presented in a separate section of this website. In general, cellulitis causes a red skin rash that may rapidly expand. The infected skin usually feels warm and tender to the touch. The skin becomes inflamed due to the immune system's response to the presence of the bacteria.

In some cases, a cellulitis infection may spread beyond the dermis of the skin to underlying subcutaneous tissues. If not treated, the infection may spread beyond this point to the lymph nodes nearest to the infected skin and the bloodstream. At this point, the infection becomes life-threatening because the infection can affect internal organs and cause septic shock.

The areas of skin which are most commonly affected by cellulitis infections are the skin of the face and the skin of the legs. However, any patch of skin can be affected by cellulitis. Localized cellulitis infections are described by the part of the body that is affected. For example, if the face is affected, the infection is called "facial cellulitis," and so on.

A term that describes a more superficial skin infection than cellulitis is "erysipelas." This type of infection has a well-marked edge. Sometimes this term is interchangeable with cellulitis, as it is difficult to distinguish between the two types of infections in many cases. Cellulitis infections are not directly contagious, as the bacteria are usually not virulent enough to cause an infection unless they get in the skin through an entry wound.

The best way to heal cellulitis infections is with antibiotic therapy. The antibiotics given may vary depending on the type of bacteria that are causing the infection, the severity of the infection and any drug sensitivities that the patient may have. The front line of antibiotics used to treat cellulitis infections are drugs in the same family as penicillin, for example, but many people have allergies to penicillin. There are other antibiotics available, but they may have more side effects than penicillin so they are not the first drug of choice.

In the case of a cellulitis infection, medical attention should be sought immediately. If left untreated, the infection may spread beyond the skin layers and cause serious complications and even death.

Useful Cellulitis Resources:

Cellulitis Pictures

Note: Pictures for each type of cellulitis infection are placed on pages that describe a specific type of cellulitis (example, the lower leg type images on the page that describes cellulitis infection in the lower leg).