Cold-injured skin

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Cold-injured skin

The severity of a cold injury depends on the how long you were exposed to cold, the temperature, the windchill, and the moisture in the air (humidity).

Symptoms of cold-injured skin may include:

• Severe pain.
• Numbness, tingling, or prickly sensations.
• Hard, stiff, shiny, or rubbery skin.
• Cold, pale, white, pink-purple, or blue-gray skin.
• Blisters or sores.

Some people are very sensitive to cold. If your skin overreacts to cold, you may have a condition such as Raynaud's phenomenon or chilblains. These conditions are annoying and can be distressing but usually are not serious.

Trench foot is a cold injury that occurs gradually over several days of exposure to cold, but not freezing, temperatures.

"Frostnip" usually affects skin on the face, ears, or fingertips. Frostnip may cause numbness or blue-white skin color for a short time, but normal feeling and color return quickly when you get warm. No permanent tissue damage occurs.

Frostbite is freezing of the skin and the tissues under the skin because of temperatures below freezing. Frostbitten skin looks pale or blue and feels cold, numb, and stiff or rubbery to the touch.

Medical treatment includes rewarming cold or frozen skin, relieving pain, and treating problems, such as infection or dead tissue (gangrene).

Credits

Last updated:	July 05, 2007
Author:	Jan Nissl, RN, BS
Reviewed By:	William M. Green, MD - Emergency Medicine, H. Michael O'Connor, MD - Emergency Medicine
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Tracy Landauer