Frostbite Glossary of Terms

1. Adult Skin Problems Slideshow Pictures
2. Quiz: Can You Identify These Skin Conditions?
3. Gallery of Skin Problems and Images Collection

Abnormal: Outside the expected norm, or uncharacteristic of a particular patient.

Amputation: Removal of part or all of a body part that is enclosed by skin. Amputation can...

Arms: An appendage in anatomy and in clinical trials. See: Arm.

Artery: A vessel that carries blood high in oxygen content away from the heart to the far...

Arthritis: Inflammation of a joint. When joints are inflamed they can develop stiffness, w...

Blood clots: Blood that has been converted from a liquid to a solid state. Also called a t...

Blood pressure: The blood pressure is the pressure of the blood within the arteries. It is...

Brain: The portion of the central nervous system that is located within the skull. It func...

Cell: The basic structural and functional unit of any living thing. Each cell is a small c...

Chilblain: An injury due to cold temperatures that, although painful, causes little or no ...

Chronic: In medicine, lasting a long time. A chronic condition is one that lasts 3 months ...

Chronic pain: Pain (an unpleasant sense of discomfort) that persists or progresses over ...

Cold injury: An injury caused by exposure to extreme cold that can lead to loss of body pa...

Dehydration: Excessive loss of body water. Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that ca...

Diabetes: Refers to diabetes mellitus or, less often, to diabetes insipidus. Diabetes mell...

Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease; the identification of an illness. 2 A ...

Dilatation: The process of enlargement or expansion. Also known as dilation.

Extremity: An uttermost part of the body, such as a hand or a foot.

Fatigue: A condition characterized by a lessened capacity for work and reduced efficiency ...

Fiber: The parts of fruits and vegetables that cannot be digested. Fiber is of vital impor...

Frostbite: Damage to tissues from freezing due to the formation of ice crystals within cel...

Heart: The muscle that pumps blood received from veins into arteries throughout the body. ...

High altitude: Altitude sickness occurs at high altitude. So what is high altitude?

Hypothermia: Abnormally low body temperature. Someone who falls asleep in a cold temperatu...

Ibuprofen: A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is commonly used to treat pa...

Incidence: The frequency with which something, such as a disease or trait, appears in a pa...

Indicate: In medicine, to make a treatment or procedure advisable because of a particular ...

Infection: The invasion and multiplication of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, an...

Inflammation: A localized reaction that produces redness, warmth, swelling, and pain as a ...

Injury: Harm or hurt. To harm, hurt, or wound. The word injure may be in physical or emot...

Itching: An uncomfortable sensation in the skin that feels as if something is crawling on ...

Narcotic: 1. A drug that causes insensibility or stupor. A narcotic induces narcosi...

Nose: The external midline projection from the face. The purpose of the nose is to warm, c...

Numb: Numb, or numbness is a loss of the sensation of feeling in an area of the body. Numb...

Oxygen: The odorless gas that is present in the air and necessary to maintain life. Oxygen...

Pain: An unpleasant sensation that can range from mild, localized discomfort to agony. Pa...

Prognosis: The forecast of the probable outcome or course of a disease; the patient's chan...

Proximal: Toward the beginning, the nearer of two (or more) items. For example, the proxim...

Psychiatric: Pertaining to or within the purview of psychiatry, the medical specialty conc...

Pulse: The rhythmic dilation of an artery that results from beating of the heart. Pulse is...

Resistance: Opposition to something, or the ability to withstand something. For example, s...

Respiratory: Having to do with respiration.

Respiratory rate: The number of breaths per minute or, more formally, the number of moveme...

Sensation: In medicine and physiology, sensation refers to the registration of an incoming...

Sensitivity: 1. In psychology, the quality of being sensitive. As, for example, sen...

Sensory: Relating to sensation, to the perception of a stimulus, to the voyage made by inc...

Skin color: The color of skin which is complexly determined. Skin color depends on many fa...

Superficial: In anatomy, on the surface or shallow. As opposed to deep. The skin is superf...

Surgeon: A physician who treats disease, injury, or deformity via operative or manual meth...

Surgeon General: In the United States, the chief medical officer of the U.S. Public Health...

Surgery: The branch of medicine that employs operations in the treatment of disease or inj...

Sweating: The act of secreting fluid from the skin by the sweat (sudoriferous) glands. The...

Tetanus: An often fatal infectious disease that is caused by the bacterium Clostridium tet...

Therapy: The treatment of disease. Therapy is synonymous with treatment.

Tissue plasminogen activator: (tPA) An enzyme that helps dissolve clots. tPA is made by th...

Tobacco: A South American herb (Nicotiana tabacum) whose leaves contain 2 to 8 percent nic...

tPA: See: Tissue plasminogen activator.

Vessel: A tube in the body that carries fluids. Examples of vessels are blood vessels and ...

Vital: Necessary to maintain life. For example, breathing is a vital function.