BLOG - REGULAR BLOG BY JANET McGROGGAN - PRINCIPAL PODIATRIST 

Posts tagged “Raynaud's”

I wrote about chilblains last week and the natural progression from this is to write about Raynaud’s disease.  
 
People are becoming increasingly familiar with the name ‘Raynaud’s’ but like many conditions (‘erm OCD) people chuck it around without really knowing what it is. 
 
Raynaud’s can be simply Raynaud’s Disease or Raynaud’s Phenomenon. Phenomenon makes it sound like some kind of crazy one-off incident but in medical terms this means that the condition (Raynaud’s) is part of a bigger illness or syndrome, such as Scleroderma which is an autoimmune condition. So, for today let’s take Raynaud’s in isolation. 
Chilblains… ‘Oooh my chilblains!’ Sounds like something your granny might have said in the stone age, but chilblains are still around, affecting 1 in 10 people, and they do not only occur in the elderly. 
 
So, what are they? Firstly, they are very painful in a burning and/or itchy way. Usually they are small patches that occur on the extremities, that is fingers, toes, nose and ears. They are red, blue or purple and can be swollen, crack and even cause skin breakdown. 
Silver is known for its antibacterial properties and has been impregnated into wound dressings and household plasters because of this.  
 
But the benefits of silver extend far beyond this and silver socks provide benefits for many conditions. 
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