Retro-orbital cellulitis: what to know

The tissues behind the eye lie close to the eye muscles, optic nerve, sinuses, and brain. Infection can cause eyelid swelling and redness, pain with eye movement, reduced vision, double vision, or a bulging eye. A clinician may arrange an eye examination, blood tests, and imaging to identify the extent and source.

Sinus or nearby skin infections can be associated with this problem. Athlete's foot is a different condition, but any break in the skin can provide an entry point for bacteria. Diabetes can increase the need for careful monitoring.

Go to an emergency department if retro-orbital cellulitis is suspected; do not wait for a routine appointment or rely on leftover antibiotics. Hospital treatment may involve medicines given through a vein, eye and neurological monitoring, and treatment of a sinus or other source. Do not press on the swollen eye.

Emergency help is needed for pain when moving the eye, blurred or reduced vision, double vision, a bulging eye, severe headache, vomiting, fever, confusion, weakness, or rapidly increasing swelling. These symptoms can reflect pressure on the eye or spread toward the brain or bloodstream.

Ask what the examination and imaging show, whether the optic nerve or brain-facing tissues are involved, which treatment will be used, how vision will be checked, and which changes require immediate review after discharge.