ERYSIPELAS : DEFINITION ,CLINICAL FEATURES & COMPLICATIONS

DEFINITION :

It is an acute inflammation of the skin & subcutaneous tissues associated with severe lymphangitis .Causative organism is streptococcus pyogenes . Children & old people are mostly affected . Infection sets in after a small scratch or abrasion & spreads very rapidly resulting in  toxaemia .Sites are face , eyelids , scrotum & infants ,the umbilicus .

                                                                     

            

CLINICAL FEATURES :

1. Rose pink rash with raised edge , appreciated on palpation & has a consistency of button hole .
2.Vesicles appear later .
3. Oedema of eyelids or scrotum depending upon the sites .
4. Features of toxaemia .
5.When it occurs in the face , it involves pinna because erysipelas is basically a cuticular lymphangitis .

 COMPLICATIONS :

1. Toxaemia & septicaemia .
2. Gangrene of the skin & subcutaneous tissue .
3. Lymphoedema of the face & eyelids due to lymphatic obstruction .

TREATMENT :

Antibiotics completely controls the condition .