The Greek prefix “peri” meaning near, the suffix “itis” meaning inflammation, and “orbit” being the medical term for the eye socket, all together give a good indication of what this disease of the eye is all about:
“a bacterial infection and inflammation of the skin, or tissue under the skin, near the eye socket”.
The range of infections that are periorbital can be grouped into two categories depending where they are prevalent:
- In the skin tissue (the dermis) around the eye – periorbital cellulitis
- In the tear ducts – dacryoadenitis, canaliculitis and dacrocystitis
Periorbital cellulitis, sometimes called preseptal cellulitis because the infection occurs in front of the septum, a layer of fibres holding the eyelids in position, can be initiated by quite a few occurrences:
- A bout of conjunctivitis in the eye spreading to the skin
- A scratch or an insect bite near the eye becoming infected
- Sinusitis spreading from the nasal area
- Bad teeth or poor dental hygiene spreading bacterial infection
- A stye – a sore bump on the eyelid
Who gets it?
Mainly babies up to one year old are found to suffer from the condition, which of course is a source of extreme concern for new parents. Both boys and girls can be affected.
Fortunately it is readily treated and only in exceptional cases is the outcome a bad one.
Symptoms
Firstly, there is one symptom that remains missing on the list – vision is NOT affected, (of course this can only be confirmed for certain when young children who may suffer from the condition “agree” to be examined and their sight tested).
“Pink eye” in the white part of the eyes
Elevated temperature or fever, and maybe a runny nose
Swelling of the eyes
Slight breaks in the skin near the eyes
The child appears to be in pain when the eyelids are touched in any way
There are a range of possibilities of where the infections come from:
Flu type viruses are increasingly thought to be a factor
A bout of pneumonia
Cosmetics and especially eye makeup not being washed off at night
An instance of meningitis
Contact with staphylococcus or streptococcus bacteria
Treatment
Babies and young children need to be taken to hospital.
In the unusual event of an adult being affected, no hospitalisation is required and a course of antibiotics taken orally is a quick and effective treatment, provided the course of antibiotics IS COMPLETED! For that reason alone follow up outpatient care is recommended.
Nasal decongestant sprays can help to clear up a running nose and minimise nasal swelling due to any retention of fluids.
If a diagnosis is made based upon dental hygiene or infection then of course it’s time to leave the ophthalmologist and head for the dentist – hopefully not too far away!
One of the most interesting features of treatment is the ability to quantify the severity through use of an index – the Clinical Severity Index – taking into account and assigning a degree of severity to things such as the extent of swelling, patient temperature, pain suffered and skin appearance. The index can then be used to tailor the treatment accordingly.
What’s the outcome?
Although some minor skin scarring may occur in isolated cases, the vast majority of cases in babies clear up – PROVIDED TREATMENT IS SOUGHT! The same occurs in adults, as long as it does not spread posterior of the septum, which can then be serious.
It is essential that treatment is indeed sought, as on rare occasion the periorbital cellulitis may cease to be “near” any more and begin to infect the orbit – orbital cellulitis.
If this does happen further complications can result with an unfortunate prognosis.