What You Should Know About Edema
By Alan Peterson, MD
What is Edema?
Edema is swelling or puffiness of parts of the body. Edema usually happens in the feet, ankles, and legs. It can also affect the face and hands. Pregnant women and elderly people often get edema, but it can happen to anyone.
What Causes Edema?
Edema happens when water gets trapped in the tissues in your body. Many things can cause this to happen. Sometimes gravity pulls water down into your legs and feet. Sitting in one place for too long can cause edema of the legs. Eating food with too much salt or sodium can make the problem worse.
Congestive heart failure and liver, kidney, and thyroid diseases can also possibly cause edema. You cannot catch edema from other people. It does not run in families, unless some of the above named diseases are familial diseases.
How Do I Know If I Have Edema?
Your doctor can tell by examining you whether you have edema. The skin over the swollen area may be stretched and shiny. Pushing gently on the swollen area for a few seconds will leave a dimple, pit, or an impression on the skin if there some swelling or edema. If this happens, your doctor might want to do tests to see what is causing the edema.
What Can I Do to Treat My Edema?
Edema cannot be “cured.” The only way to treat edema is to treat the condition that is causing it.
There are some things that you can do to keep the swelling down. Put a pillow under your legs when you are lying down to keep your legs elevated. Wear support stockings, which you can buy at most drug stores. Support stockings put pressure on your legs and keep water from collecting in your legs and ankles. If you have arterial (vascular) disease in your legs, talk with your doctor before buying compression stockings.
Do not sit or stand for too long a period of time without moving. Follow your doctor’s orders about limiting how much salt or sodium you eat. Your doctor might want you to take a medicine called a diuretic, also called a water pill.
It is important to see your doctor if you have edema or if you have increasing edema. If it is not treated, your skin may keep stretching, which can lead to other problems. If the edema becomes significant, sometimes you can have difficulty breathing and in a worst case scenario, you can develop congestive heart failure.
If you are pregnant and you notice edema, call or see your doctor as soon as you can. See your doctor right away if you start to have difficulty breathing. Obviously, if the edema is in your lower legs, sometimes the skin can breakdown and start draining or create ulcers. If you get any draining in an area where there is edema, you need to call your physician right away so that infection or deep ulcers do not result.
Dr. Peterson is a doctor of Family and Community Medicine at the Walter L. Aument Family Health Center, 317 S. Chestnut St., Quarryville.
For more information related to this topic: