Dr. Oz: How to Detect & Prevent Frostbite

You can lose a finger, toe, ear, even the end of your nose if you aren’t careful during cold weather.  Dr. Oz taught how to recognize and prevent frostbite, with the help of his assistant Carleen.

Dr. Oz did a demo with a plastic foot and liquid nitrogen.  Before putting the foot into the liquid nitrogen, Dr. Oz showed us that the foot was soft and pliable… he could bend it with no problem.  The foot was then placed in liquid nitrogen, to simulate what it is like if you get frostbitten.  When Dr. Oz took the foot out of the liquid nitrogen, he showed how it was very fragile, and when hit with a hammer the toes shattered!  Why does this happen?  Well when it is below freezing outside, your blood vessels get smaller and the water freezes in your tissue, so the blood vessels clot because the blood can’t flow freely anymore… before you know it, your fingers and toes can turn purple (which is the early sign of frost bite)… and if you aren’t careful, they will turn black (that is a late sign of frostbite) and at this point there is no hope and your extremities will fall off.

So what can you wear to prevent frostbite?  Here are some tips:

– Mittens are better than gloves since your fingers are next to each other and can keep each other warm.  The best mittens have a water resistant outer layer (like nylon) and an inner layer of fleece.

– Hats are crucial to prevent your ears from getting frostbite, since your ears are one of the first places you can get frostbite.

– You must make sure that your scarf covers your nose, not just your throat, because your nose is another place that gets frostbite soonest.

– To keep your toes and feet safe, wear a pair of cotton socks and then layer on top of them a pair of densely woven wool socks to help insulate your feet.

If you come in from outside and see that your fingers are blue and are concerned about getting frostbite, place your fingers / toes or other extremities in warm water (around 140 degrees).  This will rapidly melt the ice crystals in your tissue and begin to let the blood flow again.  If after 30 minutes there is still a problem, then you should call 911.