Cellulitis infection diagnosis

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Doctors perform diagnosis of cellulitis infection generally by simply observing the symptoms such as redness and inflammation of the affected area. Patient reports such as pain that is not resolved by the standard use of acetaminophen or ibuprofen, significant pain in walking if the legs are affected, significant pain in moving arms if arms are affected and so on. Further cellulitis infection diagnosis is performed by analysis of cultures from the affected area or blood tests to identify the exact bacteria causing cellulitis infection. Ultra sound is sometimes used to eliminate factors such as blood clots, etc.

In my case, I found myself with pain in my belly button. The area around the navel was soft and tender. In a few days, a small discharge ensued. Initially, I thought may be a foreign object such as a small metal chip may have entered the belly button area and caused an infection. This thought came in as I work with metals a lot and there are metal chips all around me at work.

While I do not generally get panicked for any reason, this time was different. The reason being the umbilical area is not one that is easily observable by ones own self. And if there is a metal chip or any such foreign body anywhere else, such as fingers or palms of hands, then they can be easily taken out. But how do you take it out yourself from the belly button, not knowing where it even may be? And I had overheard a conversation years ago between two strangers at a coffee bar that infection from metals that enter the blood stream could be very dangerous.

And so I called my doctor and fixed an appointment. As noted above, I explained all of the history behind the situation. The doctor did all his studies and tests and diagnosed that it was umbilical cellulitis and prescribed me some oral antibiotics and sent me away More on this in a future post.