Frostbite: It's Serious!

Last week I posted pictures of the honking huge blister that had formed on the middle finger of my left hand after I foolishly allowed it to be exposed to minus 6 (-6) degree air for an extended period of time while clearing the driveway of snow. (See Frostbite: Take the warnings seriously! )

Yesterday I reported on my second doctor's visit (among other things) wherein it was decided I should see a specialist because there was an abundance of dead tissue on the tip of said middle finger and that some debridement (i.e. removal) of said tissue might be warranted. How much needs to go is to be determined by the specialist.

I also mentioned the veritable rainbow of colors sported by that half inch of finger tip. To prove I wasn't kidding, I've got photographic proof:

Nail side of middle finger.

There is some sensation of touch from the cuticle back toward the hand on the top (dorsal?) side of the finger. Going forward to the tip of the finger...not so much.

Pad of the finger.

Hard as a rock with no, nada, zip sensation of touch. Some lovely colors, however!

Side of finger toward the index finger.

 

There's a bit of sensation in the "healthy" looking skin area, but the orange/yellow not so much. The same is true for the side toward the ring finger although the unhealthy colors extend further down the finger toward the hand. (Couldn't twist my wrist sufficiently to get a good photo of that.)

You will note that I wasn't exagerating about the "rainbow of colors" here. I see red, orange, yellow, green (along the cuticle), blue, indigo (toward the side not presented in photo, sorry) and violet...lots of violet!