Localized tissue damage resulting from prolonged exposure to cold is called:

• A. Hypothermia
• B. Frostbite
• C. Frostnip
• D. Coldsnap

Answer: (B)

Localized tissue damage from prolonged cold exposure is frostbite. Frostbite occurs when skin and underlying tissues freeze, causing injury that is confined to the affected area—typically fingers, toes, ears, or the nose. Early signs include numbness and pale, waxy skin, which can progress to redness, blistering, and in severe cases tissue loss. This contrasts with frostnip, a milder form where the skin may be cold and numb but no tissue freezing has occurred and it reverses with warming. Hypothermia, on the other hand, is a systemic drop in core body temperature, not just localized tissue injury. “Coldsnap” isn’t a recognized medical term for a cold injury. So the term that best describes localized tissue damage from extended cold is frostbite.