Fingers Turn Blue

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Reviewed By:

Yoshinori Abe

Yoshinori Abe, MD (Internal medicine)

Dr. Abe graduated from The University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 2015. He completed his residency at the Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Longevity Medical Center. He co-founded Ubie, Inc. in May 2017, where he currently serves as CEO & product owner at Ubie. Since December 2019, he has been a member of the Special Committee for Activation of Research in Emergency AI of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine. | | Dr. Abe has been elected in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Healthcare & Science category.

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People with these symptoms also use Ubie's symptom checker to find possible causes

  • Color change in the fingers

  • My fingertips turned blue

  • Bluish skin on my fingers

  • Crying episode followed by turning blue

  • Face becomes pale and blue after crying

  • Fingers and toes pale

  • Bluish color of the skin

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Content updated on Jan 4, 2023

About the symptom

Peripheral cyanosis is when the hands, fingertips, or feet turn blue because they are not getting enough oxygen-rich blood.

When to see a doctor

Seek professional care if you experience any of the following symptoms

  • Hands and feet turn pale and blue

Possible causes

  • Raynaud's disease

    This is a disorder of unknown origin where there is decreased blood flow to the fingers from blood vessel spasm. Initially, the fingers turn pale when exposed to the cold, then subsequently become swollen, painful and red when warmed.

  • Anemia

    Anemia is a disorder in which the body's tissues don't get enough oxygen due to insufficient healthy red blood cells. There are several types anemia with various causes, the most common being iron-deficiency anemia which is a result of insufficient iron. Iron is required to produce haemoglobin, a substance in the red blood cells which help carry oxygen.

  • Diabetic Gangrene

    This is a condition where a wound over the limbs do not heal well due to diabetes. This results in death of the tissue.

  • Influenza
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Related serious diseases

Questions your doctor may ask about this symptom

Your doctor may ask these questions to check for this symptom

  • Do you have purple blue colored skin?

  • Do your fingers or toes look pale?

  • Do you have finger pain?

  • Do you feel any numbness or change in sensation?

  • Have you ever experienced your fingers and toes turning from blue to purple or red in a cold environment?

Other Related Symptoms

Similar symptoms or complaints

References

  • Pahal P, Goyal A. Central and Peripheral Cyanosis. 2021 Oct 9. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan–. PMID: 32644593.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559167/

  • Gupta A, Gupta R, Kumar V, Samarany S. Blue Toes at High Altitude: Peripheral Cyanosis. Am J Med. 2020 May;133(5):573-575. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2019.08.057. Epub 2019 Oct 24. PMID: 31668899.

    https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(19)30878-2/fulltext

  • Baranoski GVG, Van Leeuwen SR, Chen TF. On the detection of peripheral cyanosis in individuals with distinct levels of cutaneous pigmentation. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2017 Jul;2017:4260-4264. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2017.8037797. PMID: 29060838.

    https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8037797

Reviewed By:

Yoshinori Abe

Yoshinori Abe, MD (Internal medicine)

Dr. Abe graduated from The University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 2015. He completed his residency at the Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Longevity Medical Center. He co-founded Ubie, Inc. in May 2017, where he currently serves as CEO & product owner at Ubie. Since December 2019, he has been a member of the Special Committee for Activation of Research in Emergency AI of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine. | | Dr. Abe has been elected in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Healthcare & Science category.

From our team of 50+ doctors

Just 3 minutes.
Developed by doctors.

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Shohei Harase

Shohei Harase, MD

Neurology

Kameda Medical Center, Japan

Yu Shirai

Yu Shirai, MD

Psychiatry

Yotsuya Yui Clinic, Japan

Yoshinori Abe

Yoshinori Abe, MD

Internal medicine

Co-founder of Ubie, Inc.

Rohini R

Rohini R, MD

Ear, nose, throat (ENT)

Bayshore Health Centre, India

Seiji Kanazawa

Seiji Kanazawa, MD, PHD

Obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN)

National Center for Child Health and Development, Japan

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