Classification of Frostbite Injury Based on Depth of the Injury

A simplified classification of frostbite injury is based on the depth of injury. This correlates with the therapeutic needs and outcome.

Types of frostbite injury:

(1) superficial (skin and subcutaneous tissues)

(2) deep (bone, muscles, fascia, tendons)

Feature	Superficial	Deep
response to digital pressure	supple	firm and resilient
sensation after thawing	painful	anesthetic
edema after rewarming	none to moderate	severe
blistering	none to clear	violaceous
color of the tissue	hyperemic	bluish-gray, dusky
outcome	normal or cold sensitive	tissue loss or gangrene

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