First aid in case of frostbite: medical, pre-medical

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With the advent of winter doctors have added work. And one of the reasons for this is frostbite( frostbite).

To understand how serious the damage to tissues is in frostbite, you need to know the basic signs of such a cold injury. It is also important to give the patient help in time. And this article is just intended to tell you about the signs of 1, 2, 3 degrees of frostbite, as well as the first urgent help with it.

Initial Symptoms of

To understand how serious the damage of tissues is at frostbite, you need to know the basic signs of such a cold injury. This will allow a person to be helped much faster and better if he has frostbitten limbs or other parts of the body.

For various intensity and depth of freezing of tissues, the main manifestations are:

1. Numbness of the affected parts of the body, the lack of response to stimuli to varying degrees, which is due to the depth of the injury.
2. Painful tingling( light or strong), perhaps a feeling of raspryaniya.
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3. Pronounced white skin on the site of frostbite( I degree).
4. The appearance of blisters, as with a burn;blue skin, pain( grade II).
5. Dark, blue spots( areas of necrosis at grade III), bloody blisters.
6. Black( as if charred) areas and glaciation( IV degree).

On what is the first help with each classification according to the degrees of frostbite, we will tell below.

About the symptoms of frostbite and help with it will tell the video below:

First aid with frostbite

First, let's briefly consider three basic principles of first aid for frostbite of limbs and other parts of the body.

Basic principles of

There are three basic principles of emergency management:

1. The sooner the cold stops, the higher the effectiveness of treatment.
2. Proper warming of the affected area provides for the primary restoration of blood flow in the microvessels of frost-bitten tissue and only then - the rise in temperature inside the tissue. Then the warming takes place naturally: warm blood enters the gradually expanding vessels of the diseased area from the central areas of the trunk with simultaneous restoration of the cellular metabolism.
3. Any method that provides active outdoor heating carries the risk of developing oxygen starvation in the frost-bitten tissues and a high likelihood of necrosis, which in the final outcome means amputation.

The first urgent first aid for frostbite and general hypothermia is discussed further.

First aid for burns and frostbites

First aid for

What can not be done

The basic principles explain the prohibition of certain actions when trying to warm the frost-bitten part of the body if blood flow is not restored in it, and the vessels are "empty" due to a cold spasm.

If the nose, ears, cheeks, fingers, hands, feet and any other parts of the body are frost-bitten, in no case can:

• Rinse them with snow, a rough cloth that will cause micro-trauma on the skin, further freezing the body, worsening the condition.
• When frostbite 2 - 4 degrees, massage, pinch and rub with hands, further injuring injured tissue.
• Applying hot water bottles. A sharp temperature jump at the point of contact of cold skin with a hot object will lead to an additional thermal burn, which will exacerbate all the damaging processes occurring in the fumigated tissues.
• Immerse the limb in hot water. Such actions, for example, are able to "ensure" complete loss of fingers with a deep degree of damage, which is often difficult to determine by eye.

• Do not allow any spreading of fats, creams and ointments and rubbing alcohol. The use of alcohol is possible with a slight frostbite, but at the first stage of the process( until the limb or body part begins to warm up) it is difficult to determine its severity.

Risk of rapid warmth

• If there is a sharp increase in temperature on the frost-bitten parts of the body( legs-hands, nose, ears, cheeks, fingers), a thermal burn will occur, and the fiber and muscles will remain fumigated. Heat activates metabolic processes. But the vessels are still compressed, clogged with blood clots, and the circulation is either absent or disturbed. Cells, not getting nutrition and oxygen with blood, are rapidly losing energy and are dying.
• In addition, with severe warming, the victim experiences extremely painful sensations and a burning sensation, which can lead to painful shock.

On what is the first aid for frostbite and freezing, read below.

What to do

When the first signs of frostbite occur, it is necessary for the victim to get warm, as only internal warming can give a positive result if the person has frostbitten a part of the body. To properly help and prevent the development of tissue necrosis, it is necessary: ​​

1. Eliminate further cooling.
2. Provide a slow internal warming by removing all the frozen clothing, placing the person in a warm room.
3. Wear warm dry linen, cover with blankets, drink sweet hot drinks( fruit drinks, tea, coffee).

The following video will describe the first aid for frostbite( frostbite):

With shallow frostbite

With shallow frostbite:

1. gently warm the affected area with warm hands, gently "squeezing" the soft tissues, but without rubbing the skin too actively.
2. frostbitten limb, brush, foot placed in warm water, the temperature of which can be only 2 - 3 degrees above skin. And then gradually increase it to 37 - 40 degrees within 20 - 30 minutes.
3. Apply a dry warm bandage, wrapped in a woolen cloth and continue to warm the patient.

First steps with frostbite

With frostbite above grade II

With frostbite above grade II:

1. Calling an ambulance or immediately delivering a person to a hospital( in trauma).
2. Do not use water for warming, as in the case of easy frostbite.
3. In severe conditions 3 to 4 degrees, glaciation of the limb - do not allow thawing of the affected area.
4. A sterile bandage, a thick layer of cotton wool or cotton cloth, polyethylene, woolen fabric( in several layers) is applied to frost-bitten areas. Optimal - each successive layer should be wider in area. Such a dry warming compress leads to a gradual expansion of blood vessels and restoration of blood flow.

With "iron" frostbite

This kind of trauma occurs when a naked body( fingers, nose, lips, tongue) is touched on the metal in the frost. The mucous or superficial layer of the skin freezes to it.

What to do:

1. Do not pull your fingers off sharply, do not tear off the "stuck" tongue, as often happens with children. Otherwise, apart from a cold burn, a person will get damage to the mucosa with bleeding and the likelihood of infection.
2. Pour the place of "priming" with warm water, so that the metal warms up, then the consequences of the injury will be minimal.
3. Close the "burn" with a bandage and place the affected person in the warmth.
4. If the patch attached to the metal is still "torn off", you need to quickly wash the surface with boiled warm water, antiseptic( Chlorhexidine, Miramistin).Stop the blood. If the skin is affected, hydrogen peroxide can be used, if mucous - it is better to press sterile bandages to the wound.

The following is the standard of first aid for frostbites and freezes.

First aid

So, the first honey.assistance to victims with frostbites. The ability to fully, intensively and quickly provide recovery of microcirculation with deep frostbite( already from grade II) exists only in the hospital.

This can be explained by the fact that the course of frostbite before warming is characterized by the absence of bright sensations( except tingling), and it is very difficult to determine how extensive and deep the lesions are. And only after hospitalization it can be done reliably.

Therefore, the specialists of the ambulance first of all:

1. Evaluate the general condition of the frostbitten person, determining the indications of blood pressure, the usefulness of the work of the heart muscle and respiratory organs.
2. Determine the likelihood of developing cold allergies, the risk of edema of the larynx, spasm of the bronchi.
3. Measures are taken to revitalize the patient on site, if, in addition to local frostbites, a person received a severe general frostbite, and a stop of breathing and heartbeat is detected.
4. With severe pain, intramuscularly inject analgesics: Analgin, Ketonal, Xefokam.
5. Apply a heat-insulating bandage and, if the limb is frost-bitten, ensure its fixation.
6. Hospitalized person in the department of injury.

Next, doctors in the hospital analyze the depth of the process and the degree of tissue damage, developing intensive treatment of the patient. The main task at the same time - to prevent necrosis, to activate blood supply and healing of cells.

Knowledge of how to provide first aid for burns and frostbites can really save the life of the victim. Therefore, everyone should know the nuances of help.

How to help the child with frostbite, Dr. Komarovsky will tell in this video: