Oedema facts for kids

Edema of the eye lid

Edema (pronounced eh-DEE-ma) is a medical condition where parts of your body swell up. It used to be called dropsy a long time ago. This swelling happens when too much fluid leaks out of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. This extra fluid then gets trapped in the body's tissues around these blood vessels.

Edema can show up anywhere in your body. But it's often easiest to spot in your arms and legs, including your hands, ankles, and feet. When it's in these areas, it's called peripheral edema.

Sometimes, fluid can build up in the lungs. This is called pulmonary edema. It can be serious because it makes breathing very hard. If it gets bad, it can feel like you are drowning in the fluid. Edema in the belly area (abdomen) is known as ascites.

What Does Edema Look Like?

Edema can cause several signs and symptoms. Here are some things you might notice:

• Swelling or puffiness just under your skin.
• Your skin might look stretched or shiny.
• The color of your skin might change.
• Your arms and legs might ache.
• Your joints could feel stiff.
• You might notice sudden weight gain or weight loss.
• Your Blood pressure and pulse rate might be higher than usual.

If you have edema in your lungs (pulmonary edema), it can make it hard to breathe. You might also feel chest pain.

Why Does Edema Happen?

Many things can cause edema. If the edema is mild, meaning not very serious, common reasons include:

• Eating too much salt.
• Staying in one position for a long time, like on a long car ride.
• Pregnancy.
• Side effects from certain medications.

However, edema can also be a sign of a more serious disease. Some health problems that can lead to edema are:

• Congestive heart failure (CHF): This happens when your heart doesn't pump blood strongly enough. This can cause blood to back up in your arms and legs, leading to peripheral edema. It can also cause fluid to build up in your lungs (pulmonary edema).
• Liver damage (cirrhosis): Damage to your liver can cause fluid to collect in your belly (ascites) and legs.
• Kidney problems: Your kidneys are like filters that remove extra fluid from your blood. If they aren't working well, this fluid can build up in other parts of your body.
• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT): A DVT is a blood clot that forms inside a deep vein, usually in your legs. Swelling in the legs is one sign of DVT.
• Varicose veins: These are twisted, enlarged veins that can sometimes cause swelling.

How Is Edema Treated?

If edema is not very serious, it often goes away on its own. If you have mild edema in an arm or leg, you can often help it go away faster by raising that arm or leg above the level of your heart.

For more serious edema, doctors might prescribe medicines called diuretics. These medicines help your body get rid of the extra fluid by making you urinate more.

If a disease is causing the edema, then treating that underlying disease is the most important step.

Images for kids

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  Severe pedal edema in an 85 year old.

See also

In Spanish: Edema para niños