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Causes

By Mayo Clinic staff

The exact reason chilblains occur is unknown. They may be an abnormal reaction of your body to cold exposure followed by rewarming. Rewarming of cold skin can cause small blood vessels under the skin to expand more quickly than nearby larger blood vessels can handle, resulting in a "bottleneck" effect and the blood leaking into nearby tissues.

Risk factors Symptoms
References
  1. Goldsmith LA, et al. Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine.8th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2012. http://www.accessmedicine.com/resourceTOC.aspx?resourceID=740. Accessed Oct. 5, 2012.
  2. Prakask S, et al. Idiopathic chilblains. The American Journal of Medicine. 2009;122:1152.
  3. Vano-Galvan S, et al. Chilblains. CMAJ. 2012;184:67.
  4. Tintinalli JE, et al, eds. Tintinalli's Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2011. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=6366741. Accessed Oct. 6, 2012.
  5. Souwer IH, et al. Chronic chilblains. BMJ. 2011;342:1.
  6. Souwer IH, et al. Vitamin D3 is not effective in the treatment of chronic chilblains. The International Journal of Clinical Practice. 2009;63:282.
DS01091 Dec. 6, 2012

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