P.b. (Sydney, Cape Breton) on 02/12/2010:

Hello all, After suffering from this on and off for a year, comments on another forum finally helped me figure out I had chillblains and I thought I would share my experience. Maybe there is higher awareness in other parts of the world but I had never heard of this before and it certainly seemed to be off the radar for the 4 docs. I saw too.

This starts as a severe localized itch usually one one toe, with no mark, but develops into severe itch on most toes, which become swollen, shiny, red and sometimes purple in spots, and severely itchy. There may be flat blister-type things and small spots as well, on the toes and possibly heels. This all happens at the tips of the toes and back of heel, NOT between the toes. I can't describe how awful the itchiness is, it is truly debilitating, preventing you from going out comfortably, and from sleeping.

I saw 4 doctors and was diagnosed with fungal, bacterial and viral infections but the medications didn't help. Meanwhile I was trying to get relief from the itch from soaking my feet in ice water and hot water as hot as I could stand. I was convinced it was a kind of infection and even resorted to putting bleach on my toes. In desperation I scoured the internet one night unable to sleep and finally considered chillblains.

Chillblains are caused by poor circulation and temperature changes the feet are exposed to (some people get this in their fingers too apparently). Despite living in cold Canada, no doctor ever raised this as a possibility with me! I considered myself fit and active but do sit at a desk in a cold room every day and have low bp. I thought it'd be worth a try to see if the chillblain treatments helped. Within a day, my feet felt 100% better though they still looked bad. The trick with chillblains is that once you have them, warming your feet causes them to itch (this is why I kept thinking the "infection" was spreading). Treating the itch with ice and hot water and going barefoot worsened the condition.

The recommended treatment is to elevate your feet to help with swelling, keep your feet warm but avoid temperature extremes, use calamine lotion for the itch or hydrocortisone (though this didn't help me). Vicks vaporub seemed to help too. Exercise that promotes circulation helped, if the itch started I would go for a brisk walk and it would resolve soon after.

If you're not sure about whether you have this, you could try this approach for a day or two - the results will show up that fast! The redness and swelling go down and itching episodes decrease. I thought I would go mad as despite tons of research I could never find a fungal infection that manifested this way, and then the images of chillblains online looked exactly like what I had.

That said, there are bacterial infections that manifest in a similar way and I'm sure other things too, so as with anything it's always worth checking in with a doc. first.