Surviving Chilblains during the big winter chill.

The inevitable cold winter weather often causes dryness of the skin and chilblains. It is generally regarded that about 1 in 10 people in the United Kingdom will get chilblains at some stage in their life. The condition occurs during colder weather since blood vessels under the skin narrow when the skin becomes cold and therefore the blood supply to those areas becomes very slow. There is some leakage of fluid from the blood vessels into the tissue, when the skin reheats, which in turn causes areas of inflammation and swelling resulting in chilblains. 

These problems are difficult to completely prevent but there are certain measures which can be taken to limit their effects. These include:

* Make sure your hands, feet and ears are always warm when out in the cold weather by wearing gloves, socks and hats. There are a variety of specially heated gloves and socks on the market if you are particularly prone to chilblains.

* Always keep as warm and dry as possible when in the cold. By wearing several loose layers of clothing, your body heat is trapped.

*Regularly moisturise your face and hands with cream and lotions.

*Having been in the cold, slowly warm yourself up and avoid extreme changes in temperature. Do not heat up the skin too quickly by putting icy feet in hot water or using hot water bottles.

* People with poor circulation or on drugs that narrow blood vessels are often more likely to getting chilblains and therefore make sure you tell a medical professional if you become prone to chilblains following the introduction of any new conventional medication that may do this.

(http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Chilblains.htm)

And, of course, if you have problems with Chilblains, find a Homeopathy near you (www.a-r-h.org).

This article was first published by the ARH in the December 2010 issue of the free newsletter, Homeopathy Healthy Medicine.

The ARH regularly publish these newsletters to provide information about homeopathy to the public. This information is not usually available through our mainstream media which refuses to publish anything about Homeopathy. ARH makes the newsletters available to everyone as free downloads (go to www.a-r-h.org), and they can be used for information, marketing and publicity purposes.