Expert Advice: How to protect ourselves from frostbite

Host Amber Smith: Here's some expert advice from Dr. Bill Paolo from the department of emergency medicine at Upstate Medical University. How can we protect ourselves from frostbite?

Bill Paolo, MD: As the weather turns colder, we begin to worry about frostbite. Frostbite we particularly see as you enter the cold, and the extremities that are away from the heart stop getting as much blood flow as they should, as the body tries to keep blood to its vital organs. What we find that you should do to prevent this from happening is, No. 1, dress in layers. To keep your feet and your toes warm, you actually have to keep your core warm. In order to do that, you want to dress in layers so that the body doesn't start constricting the blood vessels in your fingers and your toes.

Bill Paolo, MD: Frostbite can be divided, really, into three phases. There's what we call frost nip, or first degree frost bite, which is really just a freezing of the skin above the extremity. In addition, you can have second degree where you start involving some of the fat and layers beneath, and then you can get third degree when it goes all the way down to muscle and bone.

Bill Paolo, MD: You can recognize frostbite by, No. 1, a painful or numbing feeling to the extremity that may change colors from either white to red. No. 2, you can start seeing darkness if you leave it in the cold for very long, because you can actually start losing blood flow to that extremity.

Bill Paolo, MD: If you do have signs of frostbite or frostnip, rubbing is not the answer. Your body actually can form little crystals in there, and they can be sharp and jagged, and rubbing it can actually cause more damage to the tissues underneath. We recommend rewarming in one of two ways -- either passively rewarming by moving into a hot area, getting near a fire, or what we call actively rewarming, which is by running your extremity that has been exposed to the cold under warm or tepid water in order to actively rewarm that site. Again, in order to prevent it, the best way is to not expose and to stop the cold from happening in the first place. So wear your gloves in the car, and then when you leave your car, you keep your gloves on so that your hands are not cold to begin with, or your feet are not cold to begin with. Dress in warm layers, and things like cotton socks, because they promote sweating, do not seem to work very well to keep you warm. Moisture-wicking socks, wool and natural fibers seems to keep your extremities warmer.

Host Amber Smith: You've been listening to Dr. Bill Paolo from the department of emergency medicine at Upstate Medical University.