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Frostbite
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The term frostbite refers to injury to body tissue due to freezing. When the body is exposed to low temperatures particularly below (0° C), arteries in the body contract reducing the quantity of oxygenated blood and heat reaching the tissues. However when frostbite develops the artery contraction is so severe that in some cases ice crystals may develop beneath the skin. Frostbite is observed to occur mostly on the hands and legs but it could also affect the ears, cheeks and nose. Frostbite develops in three stages: frostsnip, superficial frostbite and deep frostbite.
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Frostsnip is a mild form of frostbite where the skin turns white and becomes soft. Superficial frostbite is a condition where there is a waxy feeling of the skin and ice crystals may form in the tissues. The formation of ice crystals in the tissues has no effect on their flexibility, in other words the tissues remain flexible. Other symptoms involved in superficial frostbite include whiteness of the affected area, numbness and sometimes blister formation. Frostsnip and superficial frostbite do not exhibit permanent injury to the tissues. Areas affected with these two types of frostbite i.e. frostnips and superficial frostbite can be treated by warming. On warming, the blood vessels dilate restoring the blood flow to normal. A superficial frostbitten patient may observe reddening of the affected area and may also experience a throbbing pain on warming. A severe and more complicated form of frostbite is deep frostbite, which affects the deep tissues of the body notably the bones, tendons, blood vessels and the nervous system. The blood vessel contraction in deep frostbite is so intense that the tissue become cold and hard even after warming, this is sometimes associated with blister formation and blackening of the affected area. In severe cases of deep frostbite the tissues decay or die, a condition known as gangrene. The most effective treatment for gangrene is the surgical removal (amputation) of the affected area.
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