Wolf Wilds › First Aid

Photo Yellowstone National Park, Public domain

Frostbite

Catching frozen skin early, warming it the right way, and the one rule about when not to thaw it.

What you need

How

  1. Watch for white or grey waxy patches on the nose, cheeks, ears, fingers and toes. Numbness comes first, then the skin goes hard.
  2. Frostnip, the early stage, is cold, pale and numb but still soft. Warm it with skin on skin: a warm hand over the cheek, fingers in your armpits, feet on a partner's belly.
  3. Get out of the wind and into shelter before you do anything else.
  4. Take off anything tight or wet: rings, wet socks, tight boots.
  5. If the part is hard and frozen, and you can keep it from freezing again, thaw it in warm water, 37 to 39 C, about as warm as a hot tub, until the skin goes soft and colour comes back. It can take half an hour and it hurts.
  6. Dry it gently, put loose dressings between fingers or toes, and keep it raised and protected.
  7. Give ibuprofen for the pain if the person can take it.
  8. Get the person to medical care for anything more than frostnip.

Do and don't

Do
  • Check each other's faces every little while on cold windy days.
  • Treat the whole person for cold too. See Hypothermia.
  • Leave any blisters that form alone.
Don't
  • Do not rub frozen skin, and never rub it with snow.
  • Do not thaw it by a fire, a stove or a heater. Numb skin burns without feeling it.
  • Do not walk on a foot that has been thawed unless there is no other way out.

Watch for

Danger
  • Thawing then freezing again does far more damage than staying frozen. If you cannot keep it warm, leave it frozen until you can.
  • Skin that stays hard, grey or black after warming, or large blood filled blisters, means deep injury. Get medical care.
  • Wind chill freezes skin much faster than the thermometer suggests. See Tools for the wind chill chart.

Notes

The water temperature and the rule about refreezing come from the Wilderness Medical Society's guidelines.

Most frostbite happens to people who knew their fingers were numb and kept going. Stop and fix it early.

frostbitefrostnipcoldrewarming

Updated 2026-09-22

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