Crazy Cellulitis Story - Need Advice on Skin Healing!
Woof, it's been a week guys. I want to start with Friday 6/5. I woke up with slightly itchy toes, and thought - ah damnit! I have athlete's foot. (I'm a florist who works outside often with sweaty feet).
Saturday 6/6 I woke up with swelling, turning to a more red, and warm rash. I put some lotrimin and powder on my foot and went on my merry way to work a wedding.
Sunday 6/7 I woke up to a very angry foot. It was very uncomfortable to walk on it, it was quite painful and swollen, and the redness was a bit angrier than Saturday.
Monday 6/8 - OK. THAT'S NOT GOOD. I went to the emergency room, because the bottom of my foot and in between my toes was so swollen and red! They took a look and said it may be gout... which I feel is very impossible with my lifestyle and genetics. I had a bad feeling about their diagnosis being wrong. Gout comes on suddenly, and this was more of a couple day build up. I even think those toes were a bit itchy the week before too, but I paid it no mind. They took my uric acid (yeah i know that doesn't really matter during a "gout flare) WBC and lyme test, everything came back normal and in range.
Here's a photo at the ER on Monday 6/8:
Tuesday 6/9: I woke up to an angrier looking foot. Much redder, and swollen. I found a podiatrist who had a cancellation. He laughed so hard when he heard they thought I had gout. He has seen a lot of gout and it didn't look like that to him. He said it was cellulitis, he sees it often, and some antibiotics will knock it out. I have a lot of allergies, including a few antibiotics, I also disclosed some diagnosed OCD that is triggered with any nausea or stomach issues, so he prescribed me Levofloxacin for 5 days.
Here's what it looked like on Tuesday 6/9
Wednesday 6/10: Wasn't responding to levo, so he prescribed me clindamycin after seeing this photo I sent him. He was very concerned about it spreading, and looking like it was significantly angrier than the night before. And let me tell you, it felt much worse too.
Thursday 6/11, Friday 6/12 and Today 6/13 my foot has been healing a ton. Lots of itchiness and loose skin. The pain has gone down significantly, I can walk on it again with a little tenderness on the front bottom pad (probably just from hobbling off of the front pad of my foot all week). It turned from red to purple, and I'm wondering if it's normal to feel much better and still have this loose purpley skin. I hope it improves, but if anyone has any advice let me know. I'm sure there is an element of just being patient and waiting for my body to heal after a pretty gnarly infection. But I'm wondering if anyone has aftercare advice.
Here's my foot Thursday and Friday:
and here's my foot tonight! Kind of looks like a purple bruise.
Thanks for reading, thanks for any advice! And make sure you always get a second opinion when you don't feel right in your body!
Posted Jun 13, 2026, 11:34 PM UTC