Noticed Discoloration And Numbness On Toe. Should I Be Concerned?

Posted on Mon, 4 Mar 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 4 Mar 2013 Answered on

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : My toes gets discolored and hurts really bad when i walk around barefoot on my hardwoods and its cold outside.. it gets numb and feels like the only thing i can do is run warm water over it to stop the pain.. what shoud i do? what is it, should i be concerned?

Answered by Dr. Ganesh Sanap (12 minutes later)

Hi, welcome XXXXXXX and thanks for writing in.
Definitely it is worry some thing to consider. There are two possibilities of such symptoms.
First is reynaulds phenomenon, which is due decreased blood supply to toes due constriction of vessels induced by cold.
Second is atherosclerosis of smaller vessels due to high blood pressure which is decreasing blood supply to toes. In cold organ needs more blood to maintain it warm. When there is no enough blood then discoloration with pain starts.
In both conditions you need to consult a board certified surgeon. It needs to get evaluated by colour doppler ultrasonography and cold-warm test. But it's decision is depends on clinical scenario only.

Hope I answered your query. If you have further concern, please let me know.

Regards.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar