Frostbite in a tropical country: cryogenic freon hand burn
Frostbite in a tropical country: cryogenic freon hand burn

Summary/Abstract: Introduction Frostbite usually occurs in cold weather countries due to the environment of extreme cold climate. Frostbite in a tropical country is a rare occurrence and all of the available cases described were due to chemical cryogenic elements as insulting agents. Freon is a widely used industrial r22 chemical refrigerant that can lead to severe cryoinjury of the skin. There were scanty published papers of Freon burn injury in the literature.Case report We present the first 2 such cases in Malaysia involving Freon injury to the hand – one treated conservatively while the other benefited from early excision and skin grafting. Each case was managed according to their individual presentations with a good outcome.Conclusions Freon burn is a serious ailment which can be linked with substantial morbidity. Appropriate pre-hospital intervention and definitive treatment are imperative to decrease tissue damage and optimize the outcome of the injured extremity.

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