What is it about ?
If the body cannot maintain its normal temperature (37 ° C) due to exposure to too low a temperature (-10 to -15 ° C), frostbite can form. The risk of frostbite increases if the conditions are said to be “unfavorable”: in the presence of wind and humidity. Frostbite can occur from a temperature of 0 ° C. Diabetes, certain medications (eg beta blockers), previous frostbite (risk 2 to 4 times), and wearing tight shoes and clothing are other factors that contribute to frostbite.
What is their frequency?
Frostbite is not very common in our regions due to our temperate climate. They mainly affect lovers of mountain sports and winter sports.
How to recognize them?
There are 4 levels of frostbite:
- Superficial frostbite: white, cold, particularly painful skin with surrounding redness.
- White “mottled” skin with fluid-filled blisters. The skin becomes hard and unresponsive. The affected limb may swell.
- The skin and the underlying fat mass show lesions due to freezing. The skin is livid or bluish. The blisters are filled with bloody pus. The skin is pasty on palpation; with deeper lesions, the skin is hard and insensitive. Eventually the tissue dies under the blisters (black coloration or necrosis).
- In the worst stage of frostbite, the muscles and sometimes the bones also die.
The effects of frostbite are more pronounced as the affected body part cools, when exposure to cold is prolonged, and when warming is slow.
How is the diagnosis made?
Before warming, it is often difficult to determine the extent and depth of a frostbite (even with additional tests such as a Doppler echo). The line between healthy and diseased tissue is not always clear to distinguish at first.
What can you do ?
Always pay attention to the weather. Take the necessary steps to avoid frostbite by respecting the advice for healthy sports practices.
In case of frostbite or risk of frostbite, it is advisable to seek medical assistance as soon as possible. While waiting for help to arrive: remove wet clothes and put on dry clothes, seek shelter, drink a hot drink and warm the affected limb in the armpit or groin of a person accompanying you.
What can the doctor do?
The doctor first checks the person’s temperature. Indeed, if his temperature is too low (hypothermia), the situation can be fatal. The treatment of frostbite aims to heal the affected limb and to be able to keep it. It is absolutely crucial to avoid any risk of infection, to relieve the pain properly and to treat the wound every day. The affected body part should be warmed up as quickly as possible in hot water (at 40 ° C for 15 to 30 minutes), but only if it is not likely to freeze again (which can especially be the case with the practice of mountain sports!) because it worsens the lesion.
The blisters should not be touched. A swollen limb should be elevated and held in a splint. Prevention of tetanus and blood clots is important. Sometimes frozen tissue must be removed surgically due to the risk of infection.
The person is invited to quickly regain some mobility. Smoking is not recommended. Healing can take several months and be accompanied by long-lasting complaints (eg excessive sweating, sensory disturbances and stiff joints). It can happen that the insensitivity is even permanent. In the event of level 4 frostbite, amputation is unfortunately often unavoidable.
Want to know more?
Cold injuries – Christian Mutuality
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