A randomised trial of ibuprofen in addition to usual care for cellulitis of the lower limb.

Cellulitis is a common, painful and disabling condition where bacterial infection spreads under the skin to cause a red, hot swollen leg. The current standard treatment of cellulitis is antibiotics to kill the responsible bacteria. This treatment is usually successful, however, most people require antibtiotic treatment, rest and time off work for 10-14 days. A single unblinded small RCT of ibuprofen as adjunctive therapy has previously shown that patients receiving ibuprofen had substantially more rapid regression of cellulitis than those receiving antibiotics alone, with no increase in adverse effects. We plan to conduct a pilot double-blinded randomised controlled trial of adjunctive ibuprofen versus placebo in patients with uncomplicated lower limb cellulitis to determine if this strategy leads to more rapid resolution of inflammation than standard therapy alone.