Frostbite is an injury in the cold weather. It happens when your skin freezes in the cold and in severe cases, ice crystals gets into your skin cells and they start to die. Frostbite is usually classified into 3 categories, from best case scenario to worst. First, a frostnip is the most common and is a mild form of frostbite. If you live in a place or have been to a place with snow and you get some ice or snow into your glove, you'd probably experience frostnip. The damage of frostnip isn't permanent, although after you go inside and you get warm and cozy, your fingertips will probably heat up, inflame and itch a lot. Then, there's superficial frostbite. This frostbite starts to feel warm and when you get indoors and reheat it, you may get some blisters. Then, the last stage, deep frostbite comes. This is rare if you're just playing in the snow, but can happen for someone trapped in the snow. The skin will now start turning greyish, with probable muscle damage too and definite skin damage. You wouldn't feel cold or pain because your cells are literally dying. After reheating, it would form blisters and the dead skin will turn black and hard. It is possible to die from deep frostbite, but it is really rare and mostly happens when you get infected in the wound. If you die from the cold, it's dying from hypothermia, which is different.
How do you get frostbite?
At 0 to -15 degrees celsius, you get frostbite on the part of the skin exposed in about 30 minutes and under that, it can happen within 15 minutes or quicker. For example, if some snow went into your glove, and you didn't dry the glove and then proceeded to play for 30 more minutes, you would get a frostnip, which would itch and heat up or even inflame a bit.
Symptoms:
- Numbness
- Itch
- Hot and inflamed
- Muscle and joint stiffness
- Hard skin (severe)
- Blisters (severe)
Risks:
Everyone can get a frostbite, but just be careful and try to leave your skin on something cold for a long time.
What if left untreated:
Infection can be caused by bad treatment.
Diagnosis:
- By looking at the skin
- If muscle or bone damage is possible, doctors may do MRI scan or X-Ray
Treatments:
- Painkillers
- Rewarming
- Treating from infection
- Antibiotics (fight infections)
- Amputation (extreme cases)
- TPA (extreme cases)
- Removal of dead tissue
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