Feb 19, 2015 By David Singer 2 min read

At least three people had gone to the emergency room at Canonsburg hospital through Feb. 18 for treatment of frostbite. One of the most serious cases involved a man in his 50s whose car ran out of gas, forcing him to walk for hours in slippers.

“He had second-degree frostbite on both of his feet because of so little protection and that his feet were wet. He had large blisters on the undersides and had to go to a local burn center for follow-up treatment,” said director of emergency services Dr. Brian Popko.

Second-degree frostbite, according to Popko, is the most painful, because like a second-degree burn, nerves and tissue are severely damaged but still intact. Third-degree burns and frostbite usually result in loss of tissue or limbs, however, one wouldn’t notice the pain immediately because nerves are completely destroyed.

“With frostbite, the damage comes from ice crystals forming in your cells. So one of the things people want to do is massage the area. That is one of the worst things you can do. Massaging the area doubly damages the tissue,” Popko said.

For treatment, Popko advises waiting until you can get proper medical attention to try to warm the area up.

“Don’t try to self-treat in most cases. This is counter-intuitive, but if you’re in an emergency situation and have be exposed, causing frostbite damage – you don’t want to warm it up or ‘defrost’ the area if you know you’re going to be re-exposed during that time. Defrosting then experiencing another exposure that results in frostbite is terrible. It will almost certainly result in an amputation.”

Exposed, bare skin can be frostbitten in 15-20 degree weather within 10 minutes, according to Popko.

St. Clair hospital officials said no frostbite cases had been reported through Feb. 19.