Edema

Your healthcare provider will give a physical examination to diagnose edema, followed by diagnostic tests to find the cause. They will look for swelling, especially on parts of your body where your skin has a shiny or stretched appearance.

What is edema grading?

Edema grading is a scale used to identify the severity of your edema diagnosis and estimate how much fluid built up in your tissues.

Your healthcare provider will test an area of your body for edema by gently pressing their finger on a swollen area of your skin for five to 15 seconds (pitting test). After they release pressure, a dimple (pit) will appear in your skin. The pit indicates that there is fluid built up in your tissues.

The edema grading scale measures how quickly the dimple goes back to normal (rebound) after a pitting test. The scale includes:

• Grade 1: Immediate rebound with 2 millimeter (mm) pit.
• Grade 2: Less than 15-second rebound with 3 to 4 mm pit.
• Grade 3: Rebound greater than 15 seconds but less than 60 seconds with 5 to 6 mm pit.
• Grade 4: Rebound between 2 to 3 minutes with an 8 mm pit.