• Question: How do you get frostbite?

    Asked by dynamitefire to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 29 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Rebecca Lacey

      Rebecca Lacey answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      Frostbite is caused by exposure to extremely cold temperatures. For example people who explore the Arctic.

      There are four main stages of frostbite:

      1. This is called “frostnip “and this only affects the surface skin making it a bit itchy and patchy looking. This doesn’t usually cause any long-term damage.

      2. The skin freezes and hardens. People get blisters 1–2 days after becoming frozen. The blisters may become hard and blackened, but usually appear worse than they are. Most people recover from this.

      3/4. This is deep frostbite. The muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and nerves all freeze. The skin is hard, feels waxy, and use of the area is lost temporarily, and in severe cases, permanently. People get nasty-looking purple blisters which can get infected. If the infection is severe and the person gets gangrene they may need to have the body part removed (e.g. fingers and toes – these are susceptible to frost bite).

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