Why fingers turn blue?

Have you ever wondered why fingers turn blue? Or have you ever seen someone with fingers that look like they’ve been dipped in a bucket of icy water? Well, fear not my curious friends because today we are going to tackle this issue head-on!

What is Cyanosis?

First things first – let’s get familiar with the medical term of this blueness. The official name for fingers turning blue is cyanosis (1). Sounds like a fancy word for something so trivial, right? But trust me when I say there’s nothing trivial about an odd-looking finger.

It’s Not All In Your Head

Contrary to popular belief, your fingers don’t just randomly turn blue on their own. There’s a scientific explanation behind it (2). So if anyone has ever told you that “it’s all in your head,” tell them otherwise.

A Lack Of Oxygen… Duh!

When oxygen-rich blood circulates through our bodies and reaches our fingers and toes via arterioles (small arteries), it gives them their natural pinkish color. When the oxygen level drops too low, however, the result can be creepy-looking digits (cue eerie music).

The poor circulation of blood throughout your body or its inability to pick up enough oxygen could be causing such changes in skin colouration especially around narrow areas like nails 3.

But wait there’s more!

Cold Weather Woes

We’ve all been there – walking on a chilly morning with little protection from the bone-chilling wind. Our noses start running before we even finish half a block and by then our fingertips have already started losing feeling. Now suppose one day instead of just loosing feeling they turned BLUE? Scared yet??? Not surprising thank goodness it only lasts temporarily.

This temporary condition accompanies cold temperatures as well – as our body needs to keep the vital organs warm, it diverts blood away from our extremities. Guess who gets hit hardest? Yep, you guessed it – the fingers and toes (4).

“Blue” for Babies

Newsflash: Blue is not actually a colour in the rainbow when we’re talking about human skin/ bodies. Ever heard of blue babies? The ones that look like someone’s playing an elaborate prank on them by drawing all over their faces with marker pens…(5) That condition happens when a baby doesn’t get enough oxygen before birth or immediately after (for example in delayed cord clamping) (6). Back then they were called blue! Get your coloured pencils ready guys!!

Bad Blood Circulation

In some cases, fingers turn blue because of poor blood circulation (7). Ageing may lead to numbness hence decreasing mobility and activity thus leading worsening the problem eventually.

And if bad circulation weren’t already reason enough to make horrid jokes; Venous insufficiency essentially means valves inside veins aren’t functioning well slowing down blood flow resulting in filled up varicose veins making for quite unsightly imagery.

Say No To Smoking!

Remember reading those anti-smoking ads that splashed graphic photos of black lungs on cigarette packets? What they didn’t prepare us for was how smoking could affect other parts of our body too! Smoking causes constriction or narrowing of small vessels causing limitation in circulating oxygenated blood eventually leading us into bluer than usual looking limbs 8.

As you can see there are plenty more reasons your #diddydigits might be leaning towards more smurf-like coloring but here at Finger Central we adhere strongly to dusting ourselves off & embracing these quirks or even helping alleviate these symptoms i.e exercising regularly and keeping heart rate up thereby increasing heart strength.

At least now whenever someone tries handing me a blueberry, I’ll finally be able to distinguish it from my digit!

Until next time keep your fingers warm and stay curious!

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