Raynaud Phenomenon
Raynaud phenomenon is a condition that affects the blood vessels (arteries) that carry blood to your fingers and toes. The arteries that supply blood to your ears, lips, nipples, or the tip of your nose might also be affected. Raynaud phenomenon causes the arteries to become narrow temporarily (spasm). As a result, the flow of blood to the affected areas is temporarily decreased. This usually occurs in response to cold temperatures or stress. During an attack, the skin in the affected areas turns white, then blue, and finally red. You may also feel tingling or numbness in those areas.
Attacks usually last for only a brief period, and then the blood flow to the area returns to normal. In most cases, Raynaud phenomenon does
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RISK FACTORS
The following factors may make you more likely to develop this condition:
• Being 20–40 years old.
• Being female.
• Having a family history of Raynaud phenomenon.
• Living in a cold climate.
• Smoking.
SYMPTOMS
Symptoms of this condition usually occur when you are exposed to cold temperatures or when you have emotional stress. The symptoms may last for a few minutes or up to several hours. They usually affect your fingers but may also affect your toes, nipples, lips, ears, or the tip of your nose. Symptoms may include:
• Changes in skin color. The skin in the affected areas will turn pale or white. The skin may then change from white to bluish to red as normal blood flow returns to the area.
• Numbness, tingling, or pain in the affected areas.
In severe cases, symptoms may include:
• Skin sores.
• Tissues decaying and dying (gangrene).
DIAGNOSIS
This condition may be diagnosed based on:
• Your symptoms and medical history.
• A physical exam. During the exam, you may be asked to put your hands in cold water to check for a reaction to cold
The changes in an individual’s skin conditions that should be reported are: red patches of skin that don’t go away, blisters, or damage to the skin, patches of hot skin, swelling, patches of hard skin, patches of cool skin.
Dry gangrene, the part becomes dry and shrinks, the skin wrinkles, and its color changes to dark brown or black (Porth & Gaspard, 2015). Dry gangrene is usually characterized by cold, painless and dry and shriveled up affected part. There is
Impetigo can appear anywhere, but is most common on exposed areas of skin such as the face, around the nose, mouth and on the hands. Initially it appears as groups of thin-roofed pus-filled blisters which tend to break quickly to leave round oozing patches covered with crusts. The patches are small at first but slowly get bigger.
Areas of red skin that doesn’t go away when pressure applied, sore skin, dry skin, hot or cold areas of skin, blisters or broken skin should all be reported. Discoloured skin should also be reported.
You might notice red bumps and welts on your body. They may itch and cause you some amount of discomfort. Check with your doctor to make sure that they are not indicative of a serious complication.
Chilblains will often affect a person who are out in the cold to long as well as the elderly community and diabetics. Individuals who suffer from poor circulation are more likely to have Chilblains.
The most common reason why Raynaud’s phenomenon occurs is because of exposure to the cold. “In the cold, it is normal for the body to narrow the small blood vessels to the skin and to open the blood vessels to the inside part of the body to keep the body warm. But with Raynaud’s, the body restricts blood flow to the skin more than it needs to.” (WebMD, 2005-2016). Other reasons consist of taking certain medications, using vibrating power tools for a number of years, excessive smoking, having emotional stress, caffeine, trauma, circulatory problems, drug use, exposure to some chemicals or toxic substances, or having frostbite could be factors that could contribute to getting Raynaud’s disease. There are many triggers, but the basic cause of Raynaud’s disease is still not known. “There has been a link established between Raynaud’s and some autoimmune diseases.” “Raynaud’s may also signal damage to the blood vessels caused by occupational injuries.” (Raynaud’s Association, 2016). An example of an occupational injury that has been previously discussed is using vibrating power tools over the course of several years. “Women are affected nine times more than men with this disease.” “Researchers estimate that Raynaud’s affects as many as twenty percent of all women in their child bearing years. That is one in five women from their early teens into their early fifties.” (Raynaud’s Association,
Weakness or numbness on one side of the body or in an arm or leg.
This in turn cools and decreases the ability to perform physical activity and thus increases the risk of freezing the tissue. Areas that are limited in blood flow such as the hands, feet, ears and nose are vulnerable to frostbite (Giesbrecht and Wilkerson 19).
Few people are aware of Raynaud's disease even though it is a fairly common condition. Raynaulds Disease is also referred to as Raynauld’s phenonmenon. Raynaud's is a condition in which cold temperatures or stress cause blood vessel spasms that block blood flow to fingers, toes, nose, and ears. This causes these body parts to suddenly turn ice cold and to become a purple or blue color. Later when the blood flow becomes normal the area turns a reddish color and later returns to normal. There are two types of Raynaud's Disease, primary Raynaud's disease and secondary Raynaud's disease. Primary Raynaud's is when a person has no other cause or condition. Secondary Raynaud's is when there is another condition that
Examine for the following potential signs of atopic dermatitis: Eczema in the popliteal or antecubital fossa , Nipple eczema, Cheilitis , Dennie-Morgan infraorbital fold , Anterior neck folds, Wool intolerance, White dermographism and Infra-auricular fissuring.
Having red patches of skin, on your face, on your arms, legs, and anywhere else is called Bloom Syndrome. This disorder limits your life. This mainly occurs in children.
Then there is generalized erythema rapidly followed by the development of flaccid blisters and desquamation, as seen in this patient. The mucous membranes are not involved, which is also consistent with our patient. The surrounding areas of her face were involved, but the mucous membranes were spared. This condition is also associated with a positive Nikolsky sign. A Nikolsky sign is the ability to extend the area of superficial sloughing by applying gentle lateral pressure on the surface of the skin at an apparently uninvolved site. This was found incidentally in our patient when the adhesive tape of an IV line was removed resulting in sloughing off of the skin below it. Furthermore, due to the sloughing off of skin with pressure, there tends to be increased desquamation in areas of mechanical stress like the flexural areas, buttocks, hands, and feet. If SSSS is suspected, cultures should be obtained from the blood, the urine, the nasopharynx, the perianal area, and any other abnormal skin or suspected focus of infection. The intact bullae are sterile and will come back without growth. In this patient, blood cultures had no growth to date and the pan-cultures from the mouth, nares, eyes, and anus were non-specific. Diagnosis for SSSS is usually clinical, although it may be confirmed with skin biopsy that shows a cleavage plane in the lower stratum
“It felt like your nose was constantly dripping. Your mouth becomes extremely numb. The area from your nose to your throat,
Any condition that causes swelling or a change in position of the tissue within the carpal tunnel can squeeze and irritate the median nerve, which causes tingling and numbness of the thumb, index, and the middle fingers, a condition known as "carpal tunnel syndrome" (Nidus Information Systems, 2001). All people