Symptoms of Edema

Edema is typically a disorder involving skin, organs and body parts and symptoms of edema mainly manifests in swelling and enlargement of the tissues in all body parts. Edema is also medically known in other names such as oedema, dropsy or hydropsy. As for describing the disease in general terms it can be said that increased fluid pressure in the body leads to such medical complications where various parts of body including skin and organs experience swelling and enlargement. Though edema if diagnosed properly and medically attended can be treated appropriately, certain types of edema can cause situations relating to medical emergency and can be life threatening. Drainage of the underlying excess fluid from the body parts is typically the course taken in most cases of edema. Let us now have a look at the intricacies of clinical factors relating to the disease and symptoms of edema.

Clinical description

To call edema as the normal response of body to injuries or inflammation as swelling is partially right except for the unprovoked symptoms of edema that manifests in swelling along with buildup of fluid in the tissues of the body in various body parts. So from normal swelling caused by inflammation to swelling or enlargements of body parts due to deposit of body fluids, there can be different types of edema according to clinical factors leading to it. Clinically speaking when the fluid secretion in the interstitium is not properly balanced by the removal mechanism, then the increased interstitial fluid causes the swelling and enlargement called to be the main symptoms of edema.

There are different types of edema according to the affected body portions, including cerebral edema, pulmonary edema, lymph edema, etc. In general edema can cause cardiac failure or even liver failure through increasing fluid pressure respectively called as hydrostatic pressure and osmotic pressure. If extracellular fluid is accumulated in the brain it is called cerebral edema. When pressure of blood flow in the vessels of the lungs increases just because of the obstruction to remove blood through the pulmonary vessels, this enlarged condition is called pulmonary edema.

Clinical symptoms

Though swelling and inflammation are most common clinical symptoms of edema, the particular symptoms vary according to affected organ and severity of the condition. Here are some of the common symptoms pertaining to the disorder.

1. Puffy skin or swelling skin condition as something is there directly under the surface of the skin.
2. Dimple or raised skin.
3. Size of belly or abdomen increased unusually.
4. Breathing trouble or shortness of breath.
5. Chest congestion or pain.