CHILBLAINS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 119, 23 May 1933, Page 11

CHILBLAINS

HOW TO PREVENT THEM Though a minor winter complaint, there are few more troublesome affections than chilblains (writes the medical correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph")- For a large number of people they are an annual source of pain and annoyance. Their pathology is to a-certain extent known. But the particular idiosyncrasy that makes certain people liable to them has not yet been determined. They, are not definitely associated with any condition of general ill-health, and they may appear in.person 3 whose heart and blood vessels are normal in every important respect. Actually a chilblain is almost identical .with the first stage of frostbite. There is a local paralysis of a few small superficial blood vessels, usually in the fingers, toes, or tips of the ears, followed by a condition of erythema, or congestion of the skin, and some serious exudation beneath it, as the result of the temporary interference with the local circulation. LOOSE GLOVES AND SOCKS. Bearing this in mind, a good deal can bo done both in tho way of prevention and cure. Gloves and socks should be warm but loose, and the wearing of gloves adopted earlier and more constantly by thoso who know themselves liable. If chilblains have actually appeared, the wearing of a knitted finger-stall for a few days and bed-socks at night may bo sufficient to restore matters to normal in a comparatively short time. Painting with a weak tincture of iodine or the application, after bathing the part in warm water, of a glycerine and alcohol lotion may also be helpful; and the application to each chilblain of a f aradie electric current, two or three times repeated, will often clear up tho condition promptly and completely. As general measures, reasonable activity, the avoidance of cold extremities, and, above all, of tight shoes and stockings, are points that sufferers should remember. Care should be takqii in the case of young children, that they should never on cold winter days leave the house otherwise than thoroughly warm. ■ ■