Cellulitis in the eyelid

hi, my son is admitted right now in the hospital because the upper right eyelid of his eye is swelling so bad,. It started as a small reddish bite last saturday which I suspect was an insect bite, I just disregarded it but it grew big until wednesday, I went to see his pedia and it was already cellulitis, he was given an antibiotic (amoclav) which I expect would help the swelling but the swelling became bigger and bigger. Blood and pus kept coming from a tiny hole in the middle of the swelled eye lid,just this morning the swelling became so bad that he can't open his eyes any more, I called his pedia and we were advised for admission in the hospital. The pedia said that she can refer me to an optalmologist if I choose, but the possibility is there should be a surgery because there's already an abcess (abscess). But Im skeptical about the surgery, because it might deform his eyelid and he might be scarred for life, my son is just 4 years old. Is it really necessary to do surgery or the swelling will just go away in time?he was already given another shot of antibiotics...pls help...thanks.

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Most likely it is a large stye.  Please see an ophthalmologist.  This is usually treated as an out patient.


Dr. O.

[geminigirl1963]

I just responded to your post in the asthma forum regarding your son's asthma and then read this post.  I'm sorry to hear your son is having such troubles.

If there is already an abscess, I, personally, would go ahead with the surgery.  You only get one set of eyes in this life and I feel the risk of the infection causing permanent loss of sight (or other troubles with the eye) are a much greater concern than the possibility of your son having a scar from the surgery.  You also don't want to run the risk of the infection from the eye becoming systemic (going throughout your son's entire body) - that would be a BAD situation.

However, I definitely would have an opthamologist see your son, as that probably is the type of doctor that would be best to do the surgery, as they are more knowledgeable about the eye than a general surgeon.

Best of luck to you and your son!

[Martina77]

thanks everyone, there is already an improvement in the swelling, it has become smaller and my son can open his eyes now, there's no more need for a surgery, though his pedia said that we need to stay for another 72 hours in the hospital just to be sure that this would completely heal...thanks.