Question

A female client tells the health care provider that she has recently been experiencing episodes of changes occuring in the color of her fingertips especially when she experiences cold temperatures. she further states that the tips become pale, turn a bluish color, and then become reddened. the client is most likely experiencing:

Answer 1

The patient is most likely experiencing Raynaud's phenomenon. Her salient features include the classic distal pallor (paleness) followed by cyanosis (bluishness) followed by hyperemia (redness), exacerbated by cold temperatures. This is caused by the pathological vasoconstriction of distal blood vessels causing local ischemia hence the pallor, then the decreased oxygenation and the pooling of venous blood hence the cyanosis, lastly the vasodilatory response causing a rush of oxygenated blood hence the hyperemia.