The following article ** in Health News, the author Health News.
Health News
Health News is a national health industry newspaper under the supervision of the National Health Commission, and is the first health professional newspaper founded in 1931 in the red base of Ruijin, Jiangxi. Focus on providing professional, authoritative and scientific health knowledge for health administrators at all levels, medical and health workers and the public.
Thousands of miles of ice, thousands of miles of snow. Harbin, the "ice city" in the north, has attracted countless ice and snow lovers to visit this year with well-known scenic spots such as Ice and Snow World, Yabuli Ski Resort, Sun Island Park, Sophia Church, Volga Manor, and ** Street. The winter vacation has arrived, and when parents take their children to Harbin to enjoy the ice and snow, they must first prevent the "cold" before it happens, so as not to be frostbitten. Outdoors, the causes of frostbite are mostly related to insufficient warm clothing, improper use of equipment, and lack of knowledge about frostbite prevention. Here, it is necessary to knock on the small blackboard for everyone.
What is frostbite
Frostbite is a generalized or localized injury to the human body caused by cold stimulation. Frostbite is usually divided into non-freezing frostbite and freezing frostbite. Frozen frostbite refers to the pathological changes of tissue freezing caused by extremely low temperatures or prolonged exposure to low temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius, including local frostbite and generalized freezing, which is more common in the north. Non-freezing frostbite refers to the local frostbite caused by the body being exposed to a low temperature and humidity of 0 10 degrees Celsius for a long time, when the body tissues do not produce freezing pathological changes, manifested as chilblains, soaked feet (hands), etc., which are more common in southern China.
What are the common areas of frostbite?
Frostbite often occurs in the peripheral parts of the body, mainly the fingertips, nose tips, ears, toes, heels and other parts, especially the feet. Frostbite on the feet accounts for more than half of all frostbite patients. The reason for this is that these locations are far from the heart, blood circulation is relatively poor, and the probability of cold exposure is high. If you don't keep warm properly when you're outdoors for a long time, you lose most of your heat, which can turn into frostbite.
How to tell the severity of frostbite
Typical chilblains often reflux in a clamboyant environment. Erythema, diffuse edema, and nodules are localized, often accompanied by paresthesias, burning, tenderness, and sometimes blistering. Blisters may be scarred after secondary infection. Typical localized frostbite is graded to four degrees.
Frostbite:The site of frostbite is in the epidermal layer. The frozen area** is congested and swollen, and the epidermis falls off after a few days, leaving no scarring. People with frostbite experience local heat, itching, burning and numbness, and the symptoms usually disappear after a few days.
Frostbite:Frostbite and superficial dermis. Redness, swelling, blisters, blood blisters, and severe pain can be seen locally. 1 2 The fluid in the blister is absorbed, forming a crust. If no infection occurs, the scab will heal in 2 to 3 weeks, and there will be often pigmentation after healing, but there will be little scarring.
Frostbite:Frostbite and ** full layer. The appearance is black or purple-brown, pain and temperature sensation are lost, the injury is not easy to heal, and there are scars after healing, and there may be long-term local allergies or pain.
Frostbite:Frostbite affects **, subcutaneous tissues, muscles, and even bones, causing deep tissue necrosis and loss of sensation, scarring after healing, and possibly even amputation.
How to deal with emergencies
People with severe frostbite should quickly rewarm and restore blood circulation, and seek medical attention immediately. Before the frostbite victim reaches the hospital, the rescuer should help the person get out of the cold or frostbitten environment, quickly move the person to a warm and dry room, remove the cold clothing to avoid repeated frostbite to the tissues, remove the equipment on the body to reduce the pressure on the body surface, and protect the frozen area with a quilt, blanket or coat.
Here's how:To quickly get frostbite patients out of the low temperature environment and refrigeration factors, it is recommended to rewarm by water bath. The water temperature should be about 40 degrees Celsius, soak until the extremities turn ruddy, and the skin temperature should be about 36 degrees Celsius. If there are no water bath conditions for rewarming, you can cover it with clothes, bedding, etc., or place the frostbitten limb in a warm place such as the chest, armpits, and abdomen of the rescuer, and use body temperature to rewarm.
It is important to note that frostbitten limbs should not be wiped with snow and rubbed or patted on the affected area. In addition, it is contraindicated to rewarm the water too hot, rewarm it with dry heat such as grilling, or put it at a low temperature to rewarm slowly.
Critically ill patients need bed rest and a high-protein and high-calorie diet to protect the wound and avoid wound infection. In particular, hypothermia with frostbite should be resuscitated and core body temperature restored before limb rewarming to prevent sudden hypotension and shock.
At the same time, frostbite patients can be treated with antimicrobial drugs in a timely manner to prevent infection according to the doctor's instructions, and tetanus antitoxin serum can be injected in time.
How to deal with mild frostbite on your own
Whether local frostbite can be treated correctly and in time has a great impact on the prognosis of patients. Most of the patients with frostbite seen clinically have frostbite or mild, and may only manifest as mild symptoms such as redness, swelling, burning, and itching.
Patients with mild local frostbite can apply frostbite cream after rewarming. If blisters form, larger blisters can be cleaned with an antiseptic such as iodophor or benzalkonium chloride solution**, followed by syringe aspiration of the blister fluid and antibacterial cream. Small blisters do not need to be punctured, and after about 1 week, the blisters will naturally dry up, scab over, fall off, and heal.
For wounds that have been ruptured, the injured can first disinfect the surrounding normal**, and then clean the wound with sterile warm saline, apply antibacterial drugs, and cover it with sterile dressings. At the same time, regularly check the wound healing, change drugs and bandage gauze in time. If the ulcer has developed on the ulcerated wound, while preventing and treating secondary bacterial infection, it is also necessary to pay attention to the use of muscle-building and soft tissue growth drugs to prevent the occurrence of scarring as much as possible.
What precautions are available for frostbite
The occurrence of frostbite is mostly related to the lack of knowledge of cold protection, improper use of cold materials or equipment, etc., although the current clinical technology is constantly improving, but the fight against frostbite is still the word "prevention".
Pay attention to self-protection, increase clothing in time, and protect the parts that are prone to frostbite, such as hands, feet, ears, etc. When going outside, wear scarves, hats, gloves, thick socks and cotton shoes, and change wet gloves and shoes in time.
It is necessary to strengthen nutrition, appropriately increase the intake of fat, protein and vitamins to ensure that the body has enough calories**. Eat hot meals and drink hot drinks as much as possible to enhance your resistance to cold and resistance.
When staying outdoors in the cold for a long time, exercise appropriately and avoid standing still for a long time. Pay attention to daily exercise, especially cold-resistant exercises.
With the knowledge of frostbite prevention, students and parents from all over the world can swim in the ice and snow and feel the pure and beautiful winter of the northern country.
Text: Zheng Shuyun, Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University.
Finishing: Health News special reporter Yi Xiaofeng, Xu Xu, correspondent Sheng Yu.
Editor: Liu Yang, Li Shiyao.
Proofreading: Ma Yang.
Review: Xu Bingnan, Yang Lichun.