Frostbite And Frostnip Health Video

Frostbite is damage to the skin and other tissues due to extreme cold. As the area thaws, the flesh becomes red and painful. Learn about the different causes of, symptoms of, and treatments for frostbite and frostnip in this video.

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Thaw out the affected area with warm water
Do not touch the affected area
Make sure someone knows where you are
Wear proper attire when going out in cold weather

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Dr. Davis is one of San Francisco's finest house call specialist physicians and has been providing house calls and office visits to the Bay Area since 2005. His practice is built upon the philosophy that excellent customer service and excellent patient care go together. Dr. Davis works out of a charming 100-year-old Victorian home, and he believes that healing should begin when you walk in the door. While trained in modern medicine, Dr. Davis also has a deep appreciation of cultural anthropology, the natural sciences, and philosophy all of which he integrates with his medical practice. Dr. Davis received his MD from the University of Florida and completed his Family Practice residency at Lehigh Valley Family Practice. He has also lived, studied, and traveled abroad extensively, including for one year in Beijing, China, where he studied and practiced the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture.

JUSTIN C. K. DAVIS, MD: Hi, I am Dr. Justin Davis and today, I am going to describe to you the conditions known as frostnip and frostbite. Frostnip and frostbite are two similar conditions but frostnip is in the beginning stages which can eventually progress to frostbite. This is a condition where the tissues of the body are exposed to extreme cold or freezing conditions and actually begin to freeze in the case of frostnip, and by the time you get to frostbite, actually have frozen. In frostnip, the tissues have not actually frozen yet and so it is a much less severe problem although it is very important to recognize because if left untreated, it will progress into frostbite. So, in cases of frostnip, the tissues can easily be rewarmed and will cause little problems later on. In frostbite, however, your tissues have already become frozen and, thereby, you have some problems with tissue damage and disruption of some of the normal blood flow to that tissue. The symptoms of frostbite in particular are when your body, the part that is frozen, becomes cold, lifeless, and colorless or sometimes gets a blue or white kind of color. This most commonly occurs on the extremities because these are the areas that are most exposed to the cold and so what I mean by extremities are the ears, the nose, the fingers, and the toes. So you can say that so that it rhymes it is easy to remember and you know what to protect in the case of cold. Now, in the case where you are actually affected by frostbite, what is very important to remember is that if there is any chance that the body part has been frozen and that it will be refrozen again, it is very important not to thaw it until you know for certain that there is no chance that will be refrozen. Once you are certain of that, then to thaw it, you will place it typically in a warm environment often, warm water and let it slowly thaw out. It is also important in the cases of frostbite because there has already been tissue damage, whatever you do, do not rub the affected area because this will actually cause more damage so just let it be and let it warm up slowly. You will know that you have had frostbite because when it does dethaw completely, the area will turn bright red and is usually very painful. Now, prevention is fairly obvious; if you avoid areas that are extremely cold or freezing, then you would not get frostbite or frostnip. But everybody from time to time will venture into some of these more arctic-like conditions even if it is just for skiing. So, what you can really do to make sure that you do not get frostbite is, number one, make sure that somebody always knows where you are, when you are out in a cold environment and when you may be coming back so that if something should happen to you and you are stuck out in the cold, they will alert people to come looking for you or to rescue you. The other thing is to remember again that ears, nose, fingers, toes should always be covered up properly when you go out. So wear a hat or earmuffs to cover your ears, have good gloves and have good socks that are warm and would not get wet. Typically wool is the best material for socks. Again, if you suspect that you or somebody you know might have frostbite, it is very important to alert either a doctor or usually any kind of medical emergency professional or well-trained in this and alert them immediately so that they can start to take the proper steps to treat this problem.

Frostbite and Frostnip Health Video

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