Treating Frostbite
by KFYR TV, Anne Kelly
Posted on 1/7/2010
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With temperatures dropping well below zero the next couple days, and wind chills getting far lower, even those with the warmest blood can’t afford to go outside without bundling up. You risk hypothermia and of course, there’s a chance you might get frostbite.
Dr. Kevin Mickelson, emergency room physician at St. Alexius, sees anywhere from 15 to 30 frostbite patients a season. He says most severe frostbite is linked to alcohol, or situations where a person is trapped outdoors, often in a vehicle.
While Dr. Mickelson says frostbite should be taken seriously he says most people don’t need to go to the emergency room to treat it. Instead they can take care of it at home, because most people don’t have severe frostbite. They’re often suffering from beginning stages of the bite, where the fingers have a woody sensation and ache a bit.
“When you get that painful sensation in your toes or hands, that’s the beginning of your body starting to reduce blood flood to your extremities and that’s when you have to say, ` I don’t know if I should be out here a whole lot longer,` cause sooner or later you won’t feel anything,” said Dr. Eric Thompson of Medcenter One.
The best way to beat the bite, “Put them in the bucket of water with the thermometer,” said Dr. Mickelson. At anywhere from 95 to 104 degree and you may want to take some ibuprofen because thawing out frostbite can hurt. “The most common error is to start to experience some pain and pull it out and then put it back in and then pull it out. It’s that that actually does some damage to the tissue.”
But not quite as much damage as severe frostbite, that’s when the fingers blister or turn purple or black. Get bitten by that, and a doctor is your best bet.
If you’ve ever had any type of severe frostbite before, are a smoker or have diabetes, you’re at higher risk for getting the bite when you head outside this winter. This is because your circulation isn’t the best, so your extremities aren’t getting the blood they need to stay warm.