What should you know about worsening cellulitis?

Cellulitis can cause tender redness, warmth, swelling, and skin that feels tight. Marking the edge of redness with a pen and noting the time can help show whether it is extending, but this must not delay care. Fever, chills, unusual tiredness, dizziness, confusion, or a fast heartbeat can signal that the infection is affecting the whole body. Athlete's foot, cracks, bites, or wounds may provide an entry point.

Contact a clinician urgently for an area that is enlarging, increasingly painful, or not improving with prescribed treatment. Take antibiotics exactly as directed and do not use leftover medicine. Keep the area clean, elevate a swollen limb when resting, and drink fluids if you can. Tell the clinician about diabetes, immune problems, recent surgery, or an injury, because these details affect risk and treatment decisions.

Go to emergency care for confusion, faintness, severe weakness, breathing difficulty, rapidly spreading redness, severe pain out of proportion to the skin findings, purple or blistered skin, or inability to keep fluids down. Fever with shaking chills or a marked deterioration can indicate sepsis and requires immediate help. Do not wait for a routine appointment when these signs appear.

Ask whether the infection is responding, when improvement should be checked, whether a wound or fungal infection needs treatment, and which changes mean you should return immediately.