3 Scenarios Frostbite Sneaks Up on You

When you hear frostbite, you probably picture a mountaineer stuck on Mount Everest. But in reality, frostbite is a surprisingly common visitor to suburban driveways and local ski hills. It doesn’t require sub-zero arctic temperatures; it just needs the wrong combination of cold, wetness, and poor circulation. We at New Jersey Podiatric Physicians & Surgeons Group are no strangers to frostbite of the foot. In fact, to show just how easily it happens, let’s look at three hypothetical scenarios where common mistakes lead to frozen toes.

Shoveling

Picture Dave. Dave notices the driveway needs a quick shovel before work. It’s only twenty degrees out, so he slips on his canvas sneakers without socks and runs outside. He figures he’ll only be five minutes. But five minutes turns into twenty, the wet slush soaks through the canvas immediately, and his skin chills.

Dave feels that initial stinging sensation, which is also known as frostnip, but he ignores it to finish the job. By the time he goes inside, his toes are waxy and white. Because the water conducted the heat away from his body 25 times faster than air, his skin began to freeze in under half an hour.

Wet feet are the fastest route to frostbite.

Tight Boots

Then there’s Sarah, who’s hitting the ice skating rink. She wants to stay warm, so she puts on two pairs of thick wool socks before jamming her feet into her skates. It’s a tight squeeze, but she forces the laces shut.

The pressure from the extra socks and tight laces cuts off the circulation to her toes. Blood brings warmth, and without it, the toes are sitting ducks. Sarah feels her toes go numb after 15 minutes, but she assumes it’s just the normal feeling of skating. It’s not.

That numbness is the body signaling that the tissues are starving for oxygen and warmth. By the time she takes the skates off, the deep tissue damage has already started because warm blood couldn’t fight the cold.

Neuropathy

Last, we have Robert, who manages diabetes. He goes for a long winter walk in sturdy boots. However, Robert has neuropathy, meaning he has lost feeling in his feet. During the walk, he steps into a deep puddle, soaking his right sock.

For anyone else, the freezing wet sock would be excruciatingly painful. But Robert feels nothing.

So he continues walking for another hour with a freezing, wet foot. Without the pain signal to tell him to seek warmth, the cold penetrates deep into the tissue. He only realizes there is a massive problem when he takes his socks off at home and sees the discoloration.

If you’re worried about your foot pain, come see the expert team at New Jersey Podiatric Physicians & Surgeons Group. With more than 30 locations, from Newark, NJ, to Cape May, NJ, we value convenience and excellent service for our patients. To schedule an appointment, first find a podiatrist in your area.