Red means you are in the beginning stages of infection. Don't do what I did and let it get so bad that your entire arm goes all squishy, and you have to go on an antibiotic IV for a week. It's probably not life threatening (yet) as mine took about 7 days to turn into the infected mess you see in the photo.
Likely you have something floating around in there, and it's causing irritation. I had all kinds of crap in my elbow that had to get removed (when I say removed I mean cut open over a garbage can and drained). Ice it to get the swelling down, and hopefully you can get away with an oral antibiotic (if it is infected). Doctors won't typically drain it unless they have to here either, so you have to let it drain naturally.
Oh yeah, as tempting as it may be, don't pop it yourself.
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