CHILBLAINS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 156, 19 June 1942, Page 19

CHILBLAINS

(Written for "The Listener" by .

DR

H B.

TURBOTT

Director of the Division ot

School Hygiene, Health Department)

HILBLAIN weather is here. Cold, wet, of damp weather--already we seem to have had enough of it and the winter is hardly begun. It is just that combination of ill weather, cold with dampness, or real wet weather, that brings on chilblains. Only some people suffer, and very commonly either in the fat easy-going type, or else in the thin, highly-strung folk with poorly developed physique. Cold and wetness cannot be the whole reason or we would all get chilblains. No reason has yet been found for the vagaries of chilblains, persecuting some, passing others by. Nor is the cause known. A lack of calcium in the blood used to be blamed, and calcium was prescribed internally as a routine. The modern laboratory has shown that chilblain folk have just as much calcium in their blood as others, and that calcium taken by the mouth doesn’t increase the calcium in the blood. Yet funnily enough a few lucky folk do get freedom from chilblains while taking calcium. Calcium injections do raise the blood calcium and so doctors will often try a course of these injections when the chilblains are bad. Should the patient be one of those lucky ones that for some unknown feason benefit from calcium, this drug should

be taken throughout the winter. Extra vitamin D will have to be taken at the same time, as cod or halibut oil or some substitute, to help the absorption of calcium in the body. Keep Warm! A chilblain is really local blood vessel trouble, usually of fingers, toes, ears, or just above the ankles in silk stocking wearers. At first the spot is white and bloodless apparently, then begins the itching and burning, with redness, swelling, and a shine on the surface. In bad chilblains, a blister forms that later bursts and makes a sore. If this is the way a chilblain happens, obviously. in suffefers the circulation has to be improved and the exposed parts kept warm. This means thicker stockings or gloves. Exercise and games suited to the age will help the blood flow and tone up the muscles. Sunshine on the body is most helpful-but this is wintertime, and substitutes may be the only possibility. Ultra violet light, kept to the chilblain area, can be most helpful. Irradiation of the chilblain and whole body from heat lamps has proved valuable. But the finances may be limited, and you will have to chase every available tay of sunshine when off duty and yourself improve your circulation by physical exercise or games, Diet plays its part in toning up the body, so see that the winter menu has plenty of dairy products, vegetables, and» fruit, or you'll go short in minerals and vitamins, and your chilblains will plague : you more than ever. Unfortunately these ‘are the dear foodstuffs, but it is a false move to economise hefe. Variety of Treatments The number of local treatments for chilblains is legion which only proves that there’s no cure- such treatments are palliative only. What helps one doesn’t help another. If one thing fails, try a change. Here are some of the more commonly recommended, Elastoplast bandaging of the chilblain encloses it, warms it and relieves irritation. If you don’t like this idea, try a paint or ointment. If unbroken, paint with a strong solution of iodine or rub in iodine ointment. Or get your chemist to put some menthol in compound tincture of benzoin as a t, or try Friar’s balsam on its own. Tannic acid paints or ointments help some people. If the skin is broken an ointment with balsam of Peru and silver nitrate could be tried; or a white precipitate zinc and tar mixture could be made up by your chemist. Chilblains are a sign that the blood supply to the part is defective. Nothing leads more quickly to recovery than establishing natural warmth. Warm the whole body in cold weather with extra clothing, warmer but ventilated rooms, and by exercise to send the blood bounding through those deficient bloods vessels in chilblain areas. (Next week: "Waste Not, Want Not,"