Are your lips or finger nails blue? These are cyanosis symptoms. Cyanosis is a health condition causing bluish discoloration of your skin or mucous membranes. The blue color is a sign that oxygen is lacking in your blood.
Cyanosis is noticed by blue lips, nails, toes and fingers. Although oxygen deficient blood is not blue, it is not as bright red as blood drenched in oxygen. As such, this low oxygen level makes your lips, fingers, toes and nails appear blue.
Most cases of cyanosis is a symptom for heart disease, lung disease or some type of terminal event, like cardiac arrest or heart attack. Specific conditional or situational causes that may create a blue tint to your lips, nails, fingers and toes include:
- DVT
- PVD
- croup
- shock
- COPD
- asthma
- seizures
- drowning
- epiglottitis
- pneumonia
- lung cancer
- emphysema
- high altitudes
- septal defects
- drug overdose
- bronchiectasis
- toxins ~ cyanide
- chronic bronchitis
- pulmonary edema
- pulmonary fibrosis
- truncus arteriosus
- holding your breath
- abnormal hemoglobin
- poor blood circulation
- congestive heart failure
- congenital heart defects
- pulmonary hypertension
- exposure to cold air, water
- carbon monoxide poisoning
Many experience a brief, bluish, painful color change to their fingers and toes in the cold, known as Raynaud’s syndrome. And some with Raynaud’s also have scleroderma.
If your blue digit and lip cyanosis symptoms are caused by the cold, then you need to dress warmer. An unhealthy contrast is if your periphery turns blue, sometimes your nose and ears as well, for no apparent reason. Also, go ahead and present your blues to a health care professional, and soon.
