Periorbital cellulitis

[TeainanIV]

I'm wide awake and anxious over my 19 month old who we suspect has cellulitis of her eyelid. We've been on with 111 and just had a call back from the out of hours GP who's booked us in at the urgent care centre for 8:45am. Her eye is so red and swollen, and I've made the mistake of falling down the Google rabbit hole and reading all sorts about periorbital cellulitis!! She's been endlessly ill since starting nursery in September and has had another horrid cold this past week which has culminated in this swollen eye. I'm just praying it's a simple case of oral antibiotics and it'll go down quickly - but having been reading online there's lots of mention of hospital stays and IV antibiotics which is scaring me. I'm so worried if it is cellulitis, which it really looks as though it is, we've not caught out early enough and it's spread or is in the eye. I don't know what the point of my thread is other than a sounding board as I don't think I'll be able to get any sleep until we've seen a doctor! 😫

I don’t have any answers, but worries are always worse at night. Maybe make a cuppa and watch some trash tv until it is time to get up??

@Cantchooseaname thank you, I think it might have to be - I'm so jittery now and just really hoping we've caught it early 🙏🏻

My daughter had it at a similar age. She did get reviewed at the hospital as my GP was very cautious, however we were only there for a couple of hours and she was sent home on oral antibiotics. They worked well and she got better very quickly.
Hope your DD is feeling better soon.

My daughter had this at 4. She was very poorly with it (as in very listless, massive temperature and a bit floppy) very quickly. My understanding of the difference between oral and IV treatment was the results of a particular blood test that tested for a marker in her liver. We were admitted for IV antibiotics over 48 hours and she perked up very quickly. She had an eye exam whilst we were in to check there was no more permanent damage.

It was stressful at the time and like your daughter it seemed she had been endlessly ill in the run up to it but she was absolutely fine. After we came home she had a couple of days off school as she was so tired but apart from that was absolutely fine very quickly really (considering how ill she had seemed!).

Good luck and hope all goes well this morning.

@krazipan thank you for sharing, I think she'll likely be the same - it really is very swollen and red 😫. She's very snotty still and has a cough, slight temperature last night but has been her usual self other than that so we'll see. So nervous!! X

@VeronicaVanHoopen thank you so much for sharing your experience and I can't imagine how frightening that must have been for you. What's scaring me is how much it's swollen in the space of 12 hours or so. She's still very snotty and has a cough, she had a slight temperature last night but that was sorted with calpol. Other than that she's been her usual self, hoping we've caught everything early 🤞🏻 xx

Apologies for any confusion, I've just realised I accidentally switched to an old username!

I've had this seven times now as an adult - yes it can be a serious infection but oral antibiotics can catch it quickly - it will stop it spreading before it starts to improve. Mine usually starts to shrink after about 5 days of v strong antibiotics.

Ways to ease her discomfort - try putting a damp/wrung out flannel in the fridge or freezer then getting her to hold it over the swelling - the relief is huge. You can do this as often as you like. Word of warning - if you put it in the freezer for speed, put it in a freezer bag and don't forget it or its too hard to use x but the colder the better. Also try and reduce the strain on the eyes - no small screens for a bit. And sunglasses when she goes outside.

Hope it get sorted soon xxx She has my utmost sympathy xx

My little boy had this last year, the Dr said it was a stye. He went downhill so fast and we were admitted to a&e for a few days for IV antibiotics when he went floppy and had an uncontrolled fever. His vision is fine (he is under the eye hospital for ptosis anyway so checked every 3 months) and no lasting damage :) It’s scary though.

My son had exactly this at 3 months. He spent a night in hospital and was given antibiotics. It cleared up extremely quickly. Within less than 24 hours it was much reduced. Please don't worry.

Thank you all so much for your messages, we've been to the urgent care (ex-walk in surgery) and the GP there seems pretty certain it's orbital cellulitis 😫 he's sent us to the eye hospital, unfortunately he couldn't get through to anyone on the phone so we're in their A&E department waiting to be seen - hoping it's not too long. She's being a little star, just wish I'd brought her in yesterday but the swelling came on so suddenly over night it caught us by surprise.

I’ve had this a few times and it does happen startlingly quickly. Antibiotics sort it out, although they themselves might make her feel awful. Hopefully she’ll be on the mend soon.

Update! We've been seen, the doctor has said he doesn't think it's cellulitis as her vision isn't impaired and she doesn't seem to be showing any sensitivity to light or pain around the eye. Concluded it's a very nasty infection, probably as a result of the endless colds she's been having! He's drawn around the eye to mark the swelling and if it grows or gets worse we're to come straight back where they'll flush out her sinuses, IV antibiotics and potentially a brain scan to check everything!! I'm hoping it won't get to that as in the meantime we've been given a course of antibiotics and they've registered her as an outpatient for the children's hospital to check how it's going in roughly a week's time. Thank you all for your support, it's awful seeing them so poorly 😔

Dd has this when little and admitted to hospital for iv.

Every cold age would get it. Managed it by shears gaming chloramphenicol in the house.

A locum suggested it was linked to her eczema and advised us to moisturise eye lids. That Serbs to have stopped the majority of this infection.

My daughter and her friend both had these symptoms when they were little. They went to bed with mild conjunctivitis and woke up with a hugely swollen eye, unable to open it properly. Thankfully both of them responded well to oral antibiotics and avoided IV antibiotics.

@TeainanIV How is she this morning? Does she seem to be responding well to the antibiotics?

Fingers crossed for you and her 😘

@LovelyDayInnit it's mad isn't it!? We couldn't believe how quickly it had progressed. She seems to be responding well to the antibiotics 🤞🏻 although the eye drops are proving more of a challenge!

@VeronicaVanHoopen thank you for your lovely message! She seems to be responding well to the antibiotics 🤞🏻 the eye drops are proving a lot more challenging as she hates them! She's very snotty today but feel like everything's coming out!! I'll post a pic from yesterday compared to today - the difference is amazing!

Couple of photos from yesterday and then one from this morning! 🤯

Hi @TeainanIV .. how was your daughter's eye after a few days? My LO was looking very similar, doctors at A&E said conjunctivitis so have been given antibiotic drops but I've been reading about cellulitis and now worried it's that! X

Hello @Daffodil0407 ! This was a blast from the past, she's nearly 4 now 🥹. Oh no, I'm so sorry I hope your little one is okay! From what I remember she responded incredibly quickly to the antibiotics and the next day the swelling had gone down loads. The drops were very tricky though! I was so worried it was cellulitis but they told us that it was usually if their sight is impaired and they don't respond to light changes which our DD was fine with. Hope all is okay with your little one!

@TeainanIV time flys doesn't it! I'm glad it went down quickly.
Thank you! His eye has gone down loads now too and this is day 2 of the drops. I hadn't even heard of cellulitis until google informed me last night and now my mind is going wild 🫣

@Daffodil0407 that's exactly what I did 🙈 but the antibiotics are amazing and it sounds like he's well on his way to feeling much better - sending a speedy recovery, it's horrid when they're ill! Time really does fly - currently sat nursing her 4 month old sister 🤯. All the best and I hope your little one is back to his usual self soon!