Criteria A- Strand 1 Design Situation

Design Situation

Raynaud Phenomenon 

It is a rare phenomenon that affects less than 1% of the population. This disease causes the affected to feel numbness in their fingers and toes in response to cold temperature or stress.

It makes the finger/toes (limbs) look discolored because of the lack of blood circulation. When the affected person come into contact with cold temperatures or/stress, the arteries in their fingers/toes (limbs) will narrow avoiding blood circulation.

There are 3 stages of Raynaud's, it is often called the three phase colored sequence - White to blue to Red.

• The first phase is when their bodies come into contact with cold temperatures/ stress, their hands begin to look white because of lack of blood circulation in the arteries. 

• The second phase is when the limbs begin to look a little blue because of the depletion of oxygen in the tissues of the fingers,hands,toes and feet.

• The third phase usually comes after 10-12 mins of first exposure and is when your body starts to return blood circulation. However your limbs will start to feel pain. Either stinging pain,tingle or swelling. After this the limbs will be back to normal.

The affected areas are usually the fingers and toes, but there could be more affected areas such as the nose,lips,ears and even nipples. 

The phenomenon is more likely to occur in colder regions than in humid or hotter areas because they would more likely be affected by the cold.