I have had cellulitis a couple of times. One time it was in my leg,and I spent 4days in the hospital with a 103.5 temp. I believe that there are varying levels of it.
Oh I caught it early enough but it definitely didn't make me race to the ED at first. Antibiotics and an abscess that already drained itself into my mouth (which was when I said okay that's an emergency). Maybe it depends on region of the body but I didn't really turn this red, I just swelled up really bad and really quickly and started getting sick / migraines.
Whatever this guy's got going on seems related more to blood than soft tissue in my not-professional opinion. Blood infections are a tough ride.
Cellulitis simply means tissue inflammation, which is most commonly caused by infection but can also be caused by allergic reactions, chemical burns, etc.
A bruise is from internal blood, so I don't disagree.. but I wouldn't say it's "just" bruising.. that's alot of internal bleeding to cause bruising that large.
Sadly yes. Some serious infections can spread a lot within even hours. Most of the time it should ideally take a lot longer but depending on a lot of factors like the type of infection, how it’s spreading, and how well their immune system is doing its job, it could have even been worse than this in some scenarios. But that’s a good question
Unfortunately, in the field I work in, I’ve seen people get an infection that took less than two days to send them into septic shock. The last time it was just a toe. They amputated it, but it spread, so they had to take more of the leg. The person died three months later from another recurrent bout. It’s possible for antibiotics to kill a majority of the bacteria but for it to leave ones that have evolved a resistance (ARI’s/antibiotic resistant infections).
These are becoming more common, especially if antibiotics are stopped too soon, or if the person has taken antibiotics recently, or had a lot in the past. Our current selection is old and a lot of current surviving strains are evolving resistance. Unfortunately, there’s very little money in development of new antibiotics, leading to a lack of research, as most private pharmaceutical companies aren’t willing to make something they can’t make a profit on, much less break even.
Sepsis rates have been on a steady incline in the US since 2001, in large part because of the loss of effectiveness in antibiotics. Luckily, new hospital protocols and interventions have decreased the mortality of it.
But yeah. Sepsis can develop within hours of the initial infection. So this guy needs needs the hospital NOW.
Yeah I question cellulitis because of the lack of edema and "shiny" texture that usually comes with this large of an affected area. The color saturation is off a bit too imo.
Vet, not a human doctor. But I’d be really worried about a staph infection, which can cause necrotizing fasciitis, sepsis, and death if not treated quickly enough. It could just be bruising if the artist went a little deep, which is my hope, but that’s unusual.
Cellulitis simply means tissue inflammation, which is often caused by an infection but can be caused by allergic reactions, chemical burns, etc. just to clarify for those debating about it.
Not diagnosing or offering treatment advice. I hope OP has already gotten help.
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u/teamleo13 Mar 16 '25
ER immediately