How to Treat Frostbite

Video Transcript

"You know any one of us who spends a great deal of time in the outdoors has experienced the numbing effects of cold weather. Hi I'm Captain Joe Bruni, what I'm going to talk about is how to effectively treat frostbite. Frostbite is a pretty dangerous situation to happen to us as human beings. Basically to assess whether it's frostbite or not feel the skin, if it feels rigid and appears to be whitish in color it may be indications that frostbite has occurred. In severe cases the area of the body may begin to turn black or already be black due to destroyed tissues or frozen tissues. Elevate the area so you can raise it high enough to assess it and then take the area, and place it in something like luke-warm water where it will be re-warmed. Make sure it's not hotter than approximately 104 degrees as you could cause a burn injury. Understand that once the area has been re-warmed there's going to be an extreme amount of pain to that area that has been frostbitten. A trip to the emergency department or the doctor's office will be in order. Remove the area from the luke-warm water and wrap it with some type of sterile dressing like gauze, and cling or a pressure bandage lightly wrapped across the sterile dressing. If a sterile dressing is not available use something clean like a clean cloth. Be very gentle when handling frostbite as the skin is very very damaged and brittle. Working or outdoor activities in the cold can be a lot of fun but can also result in injury. I'm Captain Joe Bruni, stay safe and we'll see you next time."