Treatment for Frostbite

And how best to avoid it in the first place!

There are so many things to consider when we take our family to the slopes, and one of the most important things to think about it the temperature.



It is often a lot colder than what our kids are used to, or in some cases have ever experienced before.

So we need to ensure we protect them from getting sick or suffering cold related illnesses such as frostbite.

Here we will look at what frostbite is, what causes it and what is the best possible treatment for frostbite.

Frostbite is a medical condition relating to the skin and body tissue due to extreme coldness. It is simply, frozen body tissue.

It is the area’s of your body that are often left unprotected that are of greater risk, such as toes, fingers, ears, and face.

Your children are at the greatest risk of suffering from frostbite, because they lose their body heat faster due to their size.

The best thing you can do to avoid frostbite is to layer your kids in clothing, ensuring they are warm and dry.

Plus supervision is important, they are not likely to tell you they are getting cold, especially if going to the snow is a new and exciting experience. So checking on them regularly to ensure they are ok is important.

So what is the best treatment for frostbite?

It’s also of the utmost important to ensure they are dry.

Call a doctor, this is a serious matter and should not be taken lightly. In the mean time you can get the effected area, e.g. hands / fingers soaking in luke warm water until they start to feel normal sensations again, (this may include pins and needles).

Alternatively you can use a heat bag or equivalent to wrap around the effected area, again simply warming the area up.



So basically what you are trying to do essentially is thaw the effected body part. Once the skin returns to normal colour stop what you are doing, over treatment can also cause other damage such as blistering.If the frostbite is in a person’s limbs, keep the effected area raised.

And finally if you believe you or a family member have suffered from frostbite it is really important that you don’t go back out in the cold again, you need to look after that person until the damaged area is 100% healed.

A person who has suffered frostbite or even frostnip (the beginning of frostbite) will suffer severe damage if they continue to allow the effected area to get cold and defrost.

The best way to deal with frostbite is to avoid it in the first place, again, ensure your kids have layers of clothing on, including those ever so important accessories such as gloves, scarves and hats.

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