Take care of your toes using the best possible nail polish ... and by letting them warm up slowly after a cold swim.
These last few years, the ends of my toes have got quite sore during the winter swimming season. I think it may be chilblains. Some are prone to this complaint while others never have a problem. This is what I found out about chilblains, including some tips for prevention and cure.
What are chilblains?
A chilblain is a type of ulcer that makes its presence known through redness, itching, blisters, and inflammation. They tend to pop up on the extremities, particularly the toes but also fingers and even the tips of the ears.
Chilblains are a painful reaction of the small blood vessels in the skin when exposed to cold temperatures. The small blood vessels constrict when cold. If you rewarm them too fast, they cannot respond quickly enough. I envisage the little things exploding like a cold glass meeting boiling water. You need to defrost slowly to avoid leakage of blood into the tissue.
How to protect against chilblains
These are some tips for avoiding chilblains:
- If your feet do get cold, allow them to warm up slowly
- Don’t expose them to any source of direct heat
- Wear gloves and socks, ideally made from natural fibres like cotton and wool
- Make sure your feet are nice and dry after your swim … maybe use a bit of talc
- Exercise to improve circulation
Some therapy suggestions
Once a chilblain develops try not to rub and scratch. Use soothing lotions like calamine and if the skin is broken use an antiseptic dressing to prevent infection. Therapies seem few and far between. Apparently cortisone creams can help but you have to be careful because they thin the skin. An article in the Independent suggests acupuncture and one in the Guardian offers diet strategies:
- Important nutrients are: vitamin E and B3, to enhance circulation;
- Vitamin C (with bioflavonoids), to strengthen the blood vessel walls and reduce inflammation; fish and fish oils.
- Eat plenty of fresh fruit (particularly berries and kiwi), colourful vegetables, avocados, nuts, seeds and their oils, and warming foods such as ginger, garlic, onion, pepper and spices.
- Keep the blood vessels healthy with a diet that’s low in saturated fats and high in fibre, and by not smoking.
- Also, the herb ginkgo biloba increases blood flow to the extremities.
Traditional Therapies
- Bald’s Leechbook recommends treatment with a mix of eggs, wine, and fennel root.
- Grind a few black peppercorns and fry them in a tablespoonful of hot mustard or sesame seed oil. Filter and use oil for massage – but not if skin is broken – while still warm.
- A folk remedy is to make a paste with a tablespoonful of honey, glycerine, egg white and wholemeal flour. Spread this over the chilblain and leave it overnight. Wash it off with warm water in the morning. Helps in reducing the chilblains.
- Regular massage of hands and feet in winter with any warmed vegetable oil, with a few drops of lemon added, improves circulation. Use the discarded halves of lemons to cup them around fingers and toes, and rub them for a while. Wash off with warm water.
- Soak hands or feet in a warm infusion of marigold flowers to which a spoonful of sea salt has been added.
- Cut a raw onion. Use the cut edge all over the chilblains; let the juice soak into the skin. The severity of itching dies down almost instantly and also helps in reducing the chilblain.
- Warm broken wheat or oatmeal porridge can be used to dip the fingers in, as a cure for chilblains.
- Slice a potato. Sprinkle some salt on it. Rub it all over the chilblain. Helps to soothe the itching and redness.
- Other herbs mentioned include Cayenne, Ginger, Garlic and Ginkgo Biloba.
If you have any tips please share them with us!
