Cold Feet

People can get cold feet for different clinical reasons. Cold feet can indicate certain medical factors and can lead to certain problems for some people.

Firstly there are chilblains. These are red itchy skin lesions which appear most commonly in the winter months. They are a result of the toes small or peripheral blood vessels being unable to regulate temperature and blood flow sufficiently in the extremities. In some cases the lesions can break and form an open lesion.

Cold feet can also be caused by poor arterial blood supply to the feet. This reduced blood supply can be related to diabetes or generalised arterial disease.

Also there is Reynaud’s phenomenon, here the peripheral blood vessels have an over contractive response to cold leading to cold feeling extremities.

• Raynaud’s phenomenon;
• Poor arterial supply due to Diabetes or generalised arterial disease;

• If you have recently noticed that your feet have become cold consult a health care professional.
• If you have diabetes and also have cold feet discuss this with a health care professional.
• If you have chilblains or Reynaud’s phenomenon beware of extremes of temperature in regards to your extremities. E.g. avoid getting your feet cold and then trying to warm them up too quickly with a source of heat.
• Make sure you wear warm or thermal hosiery in the cold conditions.