Acute inflammation is a short-term response to injury, characterized by swelling, redness, and pain. It is the body’s natural defense mechanism and usually lasts only a few hours or days. Ice, elevation, and compression can help reduce symptoms. Chronic inflammation lasts longer and can occur repeatedly over time.
Acute inflammation, also known as short-term inflammation, refers to the swelling and redness of the skin that immediately affects the damaged tissue. Following an injury, edema, increased blood flow, and an increase in other bodily fluids to the area are what cause the swelling. Acute inflammation can also be accompanied by feverish skin and pain, but both are usually temporary conditions. Acute inflammation differs from chronic inflammation, which lasts for a longer period and can occur repeatedly over time.
Most people have experienced acute types of inflammation soon after a minor injury. Some of the many short-term causes of inflammation can include allergic skin reactions, surgical procedures, insect bites, and even scrapes and scrapes that don’t break the skin’s surface. This type of temporary inflammation is actually the body’s natural defense against injury as it tries to protect an injured site by sending increased blood flow to the area, as well as protecting it with an increase in other protein-rich fluids.
Acute inflammation is characterized by three basic reactions that occur within minutes to up to two hours after the initial injury occurs. The first reaction is an increase in blood flow followed by a second reaction occurring in the smallest vessels of the circulatory system. During this reaction, white blood cells and blood proteins drift out of their normal course of circulation. This leads to a third reaction, which involves a migration of white blood cells which accumulate at the site of an injury in an attempt to ward off whatever has caused damage to the damaged tissue.
Acute inflammation is a temporary condition. Once the white blood cells deem the threat has passed, short-term inflammation will begin to subside. This process can also be speeded up by applying ice to the swollen area. If acute inflammation affects a limb, the limb may be elevated in an attempt to reverse the fluids that have begun to accumulate. Compression can also help reduce pain that accompanies damaged tissue.
Although acute inflammation can be very painful, it is not life-threatening and most people recover from its effects without further complications. It usually lasts only a few hours or perhaps even a few days, but, depending on the injury, an acute attack of inflammation can last for several weeks. If the infection occurs during a phase of acute inflammation, this can greatly complicate and delay recovery.
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