Use of a Single Dose of Oral Prednisone in the Treatment of Cellulitis
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2015-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Cellulitis is the medical term for an infection of the skin, with symptoms including redness,
swelling, warmth, and pain. This group of symptoms is called inflammation, and is caused by
the body's immune system responding to the infection. Standard care for cellulitis is using
antibiotics to destroy the infection, but the inflammation can persist and cause a great deal
of pain. The hypothesis of this study is that adding a single dose of an oral steroid
(prednisone), which tempers the immune response, will reduce inflammation, reduce pain, and
speed recovery. This hypothesis will be examined by recruiting a group of patients with
cellulitis, and randomizing them to two sub-groups: one group will receive a dose of
prednisone, while the other group will receive a placebo. Neither group will know what they
received unless there is a problem. These subjects will be followed up at the 48 hour mark
and the 7 day mark, and will have their results compared.