Fatima Rashed and colleagues say emergency department nurses should be on high alert when children present with eye problems and should look for red flag features during triage
Children with red swollen eyes frequently present to emergency departments. Some patients will have orbital cellulitis, a condition that requires immediate diagnosis and treatment. Orbital cellulitis can be confused with the less severe, but more frequently encountered, periorbital cellulitis, which requires less aggressive management. Delayed recognition of the signs and symptoms of orbital cellulitis can lead to serious complications such as blindness, meningitis and cerebral abscess. This article describes the clinical features, epidemiology and outcomes of the condition, and discusses management and treatment. It also includes a case study.
Emergency Nurse. 24, 1, 30-35. doi: 10.7748/en.24.1.30.s25
Correspondence Peer reviewThis article has been subject to double-blind review and has been checked using antiplagiarism software
Conflict of interestNone declared
Received: 06 January 2016
Accepted: 14 March 2016
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