Frostbite

• Frostbite


  A cold-induced injury resulting from exposure to freezing temperatures or non-freezing environmental insults
• Degrees of frostbite


  • First-degree: Erythema, superficial, spontaneous healing in a few days
  • Second-degree: Purple blisters, dermoepidermal damage, healing in 10 days
  • Third-degree: Brown or black eschar, whole thickness injury
  • Fourth-degree: Gangrene, requiring surgical intervention
• Common locations for frostbite are acral parts of extremities like fingers, hands, feet, nose, and ears
• Zones of frostbite wounds

  • Zone of necrosis: Irreversibly avital tissue
  • Zone of stasis: Reversibly damaged tissue
  • Zone of hyperemia: Vital tissue surrounding the zone of stasis
• Management of frostbite


  1. First aid: Warming the affected area, providing warm liquids, covering with sterile dressing

  2. Hospital treatment: Fluid resuscitation, vasodilatation therapy, and heparinization

  3. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy to improve tissue oxygenation
• Surgical treatment of frostbite

  1. Necrectomy: Removal of dead tissue

  2. Skin reconstruction: Skin grafting for third-degree frostbite

  3. Flap plasty or limb amputation for gangrene (IV Degree)
• Demarcation of avital tissue takes approximately 14 days, followed by surgical treatment
• Diabetes mellitus and ischemic diseases


  Can worsen the healing prognosis in frostbite patients