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Whom Should I Consult For Swelling And Infection In The Sinus Cavity And Eye Sockets Along With Fever And Black Eye Like Discoloration?
Question: Twice in 3 months my sinus cavity and eye socket has swollen & became infected. Antibiotics help but I need a permanent solution. My GP does not seem to know what to do. Yesterday the face became so swollen I looked like a squirell with nuts. It came with a fever & was very painful. I had some Amox-Clav 500 mg so took that. The infection started to discharge. Now I have a black eye & need ore anti-biotics. But what type of Dr. should I insist on seeing? I also am recovering from a stroke, so want to be careful about diagnostic tests. I am a 61-yr female, 5'4'' and 135 lbs. Thank you
Brief Answer:
Detailed answer and explanations given below
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
If a patient gets visible swelling on the face (not just the face feels heavy) there are 2 main causes we think of:
1- infection: in this case the swelling develops in a day or two and the improvement takes 3-4 days with broad spectrum antibiotics (like oral augmentine or injectable cefaclor) to notice improvement and will take a week to be completely better.
2- another possible cause, especially if the swelling develops very quick, within a few minutes to a couple of hours and changes quickly or improves within a few hours than it is likely it is an allergic reaction (also called anaphylaxis) . If this is the case than this reaction seems to be quite severe and needs urgent medical attention.
If you are having swelling around the eyes or the black eye as you have explained, it is always best to see your doctor soon because both cases mentioned above are important and need proper evaluation from the doctor. If infection is likely and infectionist doctor might be the best choice, if allergy is likely a cause than an allergy specialist is best. In any case your local doctor, after checking you, should be able to tell exactly which of these two is best to be visited in your case.
If you just have a feeling of heaviness in the area behind the eyes and close to the sinuses but no clear swelling or redness in the area this might be due to congestion (a viral infection or allergic sinusitis are common causes and rarely these can be complicated with bacterial sinusitis). If the heaviness is for less than a week than you will need to do nasal saline solution lavage of the nostrils at least 3 times a day and you can also use some local nasal steroids 1-2 times a day to help reduce the symptoms. Oral Loratadine 10 mg at night might be tried also for 7-10 days. If the congestion is for longer than a week and you have fever, augmentine is a good choice and can be continued for a week.
If you have allergic sinusitis you can get frequent problems with congestion of sinuses and they may also get infected and you will need to talk with you doctor to see if the diagnosis of allergic sinusitis is possible and take nasal steroids for a while to settle the irritation and have nasal saline solution nose lavage at least once a day for a few weeks.
I hope i have addressed your questions but please feel free to reply in case there is need for more clarification on this.
Kind regards,
Antoneta Zotaj, MD
Detailed answer and explanations given below
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
If a patient gets visible swelling on the face (not just the face feels heavy) there are 2 main causes we think of:
1- infection: in this case the swelling develops in a day or two and the improvement takes 3-4 days with broad spectrum antibiotics (like oral augmentine or injectable cefaclor) to notice improvement and will take a week to be completely better.
2- another possible cause, especially if the swelling develops very quick, within a few minutes to a couple of hours and changes quickly or improves within a few hours than it is likely it is an allergic reaction (also called anaphylaxis) . If this is the case than this reaction seems to be quite severe and needs urgent medical attention.
If you are having swelling around the eyes or the black eye as you have explained, it is always best to see your doctor soon because both cases mentioned above are important and need proper evaluation from the doctor. If infection is likely and infectionist doctor might be the best choice, if allergy is likely a cause than an allergy specialist is best. In any case your local doctor, after checking you, should be able to tell exactly which of these two is best to be visited in your case.
If you just have a feeling of heaviness in the area behind the eyes and close to the sinuses but no clear swelling or redness in the area this might be due to congestion (a viral infection or allergic sinusitis are common causes and rarely these can be complicated with bacterial sinusitis). If the heaviness is for less than a week than you will need to do nasal saline solution lavage of the nostrils at least 3 times a day and you can also use some local nasal steroids 1-2 times a day to help reduce the symptoms. Oral Loratadine 10 mg at night might be tried also for 7-10 days. If the congestion is for longer than a week and you have fever, augmentine is a good choice and can be continued for a week.
If you have allergic sinusitis you can get frequent problems with congestion of sinuses and they may also get infected and you will need to talk with you doctor to see if the diagnosis of allergic sinusitis is possible and take nasal steroids for a while to settle the irritation and have nasal saline solution nose lavage at least once a day for a few weeks.
I hope i have addressed your questions but please feel free to reply in case there is need for more clarification on this.
Kind regards,
Antoneta Zotaj, MD
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
Answered by
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