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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Sudden Onset Of Redness Of Face With Swelling Below Eyes?

Male, age 66, woke up with a red face and swelling around the eyes, especially below the eyes, so that the skin around the eyes looked swollen. This condition is only slightly better after 2 days. There has been a lot of forest fire smoke in the area. My husband uses a sinus rinse, and had opened a new box of packets, same brand. Otherwise, no other noticeable changes in daily routine. He is very allergic to cats and horses, but we have neither in or around our home.
posted on Fri, 21 Aug 2015
Twitter Fri, 25 Sep 2015 Answered on
Twitter Mon, 28 Sep 2015 Last reviewed on
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Hello,
Thank you for using HCM.
there are three main possible causes of the symptoms your husband has.
1. Allergy- if your husband has lip swelling and some shortness of breath with the eye swelling he will need to sick emergent medical attention- we call it anaphylaxis and it is life threatening. If he has no lip swelling and no shortness of breath he might try to take an antihistamine like benadryl. If he has no improvement or is any worse he needs to see a doctor. Identifying and avoiding the agent that causes the allergy is very key point in allergy treatent.
2. Infection- if there is face redness and pain locally or he has fever and feels unwell this makes infection a more likely cause and he needs to have antibiotics for it. If he has redness around the eyes and pain on moving the eyes this is called orbital celullitis and needs urgent treatment with antibiotics.
3. Insect bite- sometimes and insect might bite us and we get a reaction to it. It would cause a small puncture site and red itchy area. in this case the antihistamine would be helpful and cold compresses to control the itchiness also.
Hope this is helpful and answers to your question
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What Causes Sudden Onset Of Redness Of Face With Swelling Below Eyes?

Hello, Thank you for using HCM. there are three main possible causes of the symptoms your husband has. 1. Allergy- if your husband has lip swelling and some shortness of breath with the eye swelling he will need to sick emergent medical attention- we call it anaphylaxis and it is life threatening. If he has no lip swelling and no shortness of breath he might try to take an antihistamine like benadryl. If he has no improvement or is any worse he needs to see a doctor. Identifying and avoiding the agent that causes the allergy is very key point in allergy treatent. 2. Infection- if there is face redness and pain locally or he has fever and feels unwell this makes infection a more likely cause and he needs to have antibiotics for it. If he has redness around the eyes and pain on moving the eyes this is called orbital celullitis and needs urgent treatment with antibiotics. 3. Insect bite- sometimes and insect might bite us and we get a reaction to it. It would cause a small puncture site and red itchy area. in this case the antihistamine would be helpful and cold compresses to control the itchiness also. Hope this is helpful and answers to your question