That woman in the postnatal ward had us all foxed. She seemed to be like any other normal woman in puerperium until our Registrar said,
"Sir, this patient has developed blueness of hands since yesterday morning."
We looked and were aghast.
Her both hands had become blue. There was a sharp line of demarcation, above which the skin color was like elsewhere on her body.
"Looks like cyanosis" I said.
"Peripheral vascular disease?" an Assistant Professor said. We checked the temperature of the affected part. It was normal. We checked the sensation and movements of the fingers. Both were normal. We checked the arterial pulse in the radial and brachial arteries. All were normal. The woman was enjoying all the attention she was getting.
"We may have to do doppler studies, though the vascularity of the limbs seems OK" I said.
"Have you got a new dress?" our Associate Professor asked the patient suddenly.
"Yes" she said and showed a new blue colored gown.
"Did your hand become blue after you washed it?"
"Yes" she said.
We all laughed the laughter of people relieved of great stress.
"Clothes of not very high quality tend to lose the dye used to color them on washing" the Associate Professor explained.
When we had another patient who had cherry red hands after a couple of months, we were not worried. We just looked at her hands, and she said "it is nothing. I got a new red dress, washed it, and it is the color of that dress on my hands."
I think the next one could be yellow or green.
"Sir, this patient has developed blueness of hands since yesterday morning."
We looked and were aghast.
Her both hands had become blue. There was a sharp line of demarcation, above which the skin color was like elsewhere on her body.
"Looks like cyanosis" I said.
"Peripheral vascular disease?" an Assistant Professor said. We checked the temperature of the affected part. It was normal. We checked the sensation and movements of the fingers. Both were normal. We checked the arterial pulse in the radial and brachial arteries. All were normal. The woman was enjoying all the attention she was getting.
"We may have to do doppler studies, though the vascularity of the limbs seems OK" I said.
"Have you got a new dress?" our Associate Professor asked the patient suddenly.
"Yes" she said and showed a new blue colored gown.
"Did your hand become blue after you washed it?"
"Yes" she said.
We all laughed the laughter of people relieved of great stress.
"Clothes of not very high quality tend to lose the dye used to color them on washing" the Associate Professor explained.
When we had another patient who had cherry red hands after a couple of months, we were not worried. We just looked at her hands, and she said "it is nothing. I got a new red dress, washed it, and it is the color of that dress on my hands."
I think the next one could be yellow or green.
