L03.90 Cellulitis Diagnosis & ICD-10 Code #2

Billable/ Specific Code:

L03.90 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes.

Discover expert diagnosis and management of L03.90 cellulitis with the ICD-10 code L03.90 at Nexus Clinical. We provide personalized care and effective treatment strategies for this bacterial skin infection.

Applicable To:

• Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue
• Infections of the skin and subcutaneous tissue
• Cellulitis and acute lymphangitis

Approximate Synonyms:

• Cellulitis
• Cellulitis of skin with lymphangitis

Clinical Information

• A bacterial infection that affects and spreads in the skin and soft tissues. Signs and symptoms include pain, tenderness and reddening in the affected area, fever, chills, and lymphadenopathy.
• An acute, diffuse, and suppurative inflammation of loose connective tissue, particularly the deep subcutaneous tissues, and sometimes muscle, which is most commonly seen as a result of infection of a wound, ulcer, or other skin lesions.
• An acute, spreading infection of the deep tissues of the skin and muscle that causes the skin to become warm and tender and may also cause fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, and blisters.
• Cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the deepest layer of your skin. Bacteria can enter your body through a break in the skin – from a cut, scratch, or bite. Usually if your skin gets infected, it’s just the top layer and it goes away on its own with proper care. But with cellulitis, the deep skin tissues in the infected area become red, hot, irritated and painful. Cellulitis is most common on the face and lower legs. You may have cellulitis if you notice
  • area of skin redness or swelling that gets larger
  • tight, glossy look to skin
  • pain or tenderness
  • skin rash that happens suddenly and grows quickly
  • signs of infection including fever, chills and muscle aches

  cellulitis can be serious, and possibly even deadly, so prompt treatment is important. The goal of treatment is to control infection and prevent related problems. Treatment usually includes antibiotics.

• Inflammation that may involve the skin and or subcutaneous tissues, and or muscle

Related Specialties:

• Internal Medicine
• Dermatology

ICD-10: A Brief Synopsis

For disease reporting, the US utilizes its own national variant of ICD-10 called the ICD-10 Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM). A procedural classification called ICD-10 Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) has also been developed for capturing inpatient procedures. The ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS were developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). There are over 70,000 ICD-10-PCS procedure codes and over 69,000 ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes, compared to about 3,800 procedure codes and roughly 14,000 diagnosis codes found in the previous ICD-9-CM.

The expansion of healthcare delivery systems and changes in global health trends prompted a need for codes with improved clinical accuracy and specificity. The alphanumeric coding in ICD-10 is an improvement from ICD-9 which had a limited number of codes and a restrictive structure. Early concerns in the implementation of ICD-10 included the cost and the availability of resources for training healthcare workers and professional coders.

There was much controversy when the transition from the ICD-9-CM to the ICD-10-CM was first announced in the US. Many providers were concerned about the vast number of codes being added, the complexity of the new coding system, and the costs associated with the transition. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) weighed these concerns against the benefits of having more accurate data collection, clearer documentation of diagnoses and procedures, and more accurate claims processing. CMS decided the financial and public health cost associated with continuing to use the ICD-9-CM was too high and mandated the switch to ICD-10-CM.