Cellulitis Alert Card
£1.50
One of the biggest challenges and fears faced by those living with lymphoedema is developing cellulitis. For those who have been lucky enough to escape this problem, cellulitis usually starts as a topical infection in the skin of the swollen limb, causing redness, heat, pain and is often accompanied by flu-like symptoms. If treated promptly, with the right antibiotics, for the correct amount of time, infection will clear up. If it is not treated either quickly enough or with the right antibiotics, it can make you really poorly and can often mean a stay in hospital with an antibiotic drip.
If you are away from home or it is outside surgery hours, it can be a real challenge to get A&E staff or out-of-hours GPs to take the situation seriously when you may not yet ‘look’ like you have cellulitis. We hear time and time again of people being sent home to watch and wait and ending up back in hospital, very poorly, within hours.
Working with the British Lymphology Society (BLS), the LSN has produced a Cellulitis Alert Card that can easily fit into your purse or wallet and can be shown to doctors/A&E staff supporting the fact that you may have cellulitis and should be taken seriously and pointing doctors to the online version of the guidance for more information on what to do.
The price of the card is £1.50 including UK postage & packing.