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Periorbital Cellulitis

This type of eye infection can be started if you contract almost any other type of eye infection. Although periorbital cellulitis can also occur without individuals contracting any other type of eye infection. Periorbital cellulitis may be to blame when the tissue around the eye become infected. Periorbital cellulitis can be contracted in several ways and the first has already been mentioned, an extension of an earlier eye infection. Another way is by individuals sustaining a minor trauma around the area where the eye is located. The trauma can be anything from falling over and banging the area around the eye when you land to being punching around the eye area. The most popular cause of periorbital cellulitis is the former.

What To Expect

To discover if you or someone from your family has contracted periorbital cellulitis there are a few noticeable and visible ways. One way is to see if there is redness and swelling around the eyelid. To anyone that sees periorbital cellulitis on the victims face there will be highly visible swelling. Other eye infections can cause patients to have limited eye movements. However, these types of infections infect the deeper tissue that is in the eye socket. The eye movement of a patient with periorbital cellulitis is not effected.

Age Group

People of every age can be infected with periorbital cellulitis. Although the most common age group has been found to be children under the age of six years old. Why this is the common age group is not known, but some think it may be because of the risks children take at their young age. When there is a minor bump or trauma to or around the area of the eye periorbital cellulitis can develop. The risks young children take seem to make them more likely to get this eye infection.

Diagnosis and Testing

You must send anyone that you think has periorbital cellulitis to the doctor immediately. A physical examination can be done to make a diagnosis. Sometimes a doctor may order a blood test or x-ray to confirm the diagnosis. It may be necessary for a doctor to also order a CAT scan to help with the diagnosis of an eye infection.

Treatments for Periorbital Cellulitis

Correct treatment is needed to combat the eye infection. There could be complications further on down the line if correct treatment isn’t done since periorbital cellulitis is a serious condition. A course of antibiotics is the most common treatment for individual with this eye infection. Even if the eye infection does vanish the antibiotics must be completed. Although antibiotics can only be given in the early stages of the infection. A patient might have to be admitted to the nearest hospital if the eye infection isn’t treated early enough. While at the hospital the individual will be given more powerful antibiotics to help fight the eye infection and to reduce the amount of swelling around the eye. Surgery might have to be performed if the periorbital cellulitis becomes very serious which helps surgically drain the eye. Although this is usually not required for this condition.

Complications of Periorbital Cellulitis

If periorbital cellulitis is not treated correctly there are a few severe complications that can result. In rare cases it has evolved into orbital cellulitis which is another eye infection that involves the eye itself. This infection causes pain whenever the individual moves their eye and a loss of vision may also result. In a few cases the patient has got meningitis because of periorbital cellulitis. Meningitis is a life-threatening illness. If you think a family member or yourself has periorbital cellulitis then you should be checked out by a doctor right away.

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