bone bruises become cellulitis infections

Hi, I've now had this twice. I play soccer, I get kicked in the shins a lot. In August I had a bone bruise on my shin, it cleared normally. Two weeks later I developed an infection in the exact same spot. It was a red tender hot hard bump and the swelling spread through my ankle to my toes. They said it was cellulitis, I was put on Bactrim and amoxicillin to cover all the basics. all the swelling went down but the bump remained and we manually massaged it out. (painful btw). Now two months later I have another bone bruise maybe an inch from the first spot, a week later it became an infection as well, also diagnosed as cellulitis, and treated with bactrim. The massive amount of swelling went down and after 8 days of Bactrim the lump remains and is still very large, probably 2 inches. Lots of pressure lots of pitting edema. I understand theyre infection because the antibiotics reduce it, I just want to know why they keep developing on my bruises. I have had no blood tests, theyre are no infected points of entry although obviously being an athlete theres plenty points of entry.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
The blood under the skin which causes the discoloration of bruising should be totally reabsorbed by the body in three weeks or less. But sometimes, there is formation of hematoma because of blood trapped in tissues. This blood may need to be drained lest some infection develops. Less commonly, it may develop calcium deposits at the injury site in a process called heterotopic ossification. This is more serious.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[maatson]

You were absolutely right when you mentioned about 'entry points' for the infection. The most important entry point in legs and feet recurrent cellulitis is 'Athelet's foot' which predisposes to recurrent infection.Take care.