Vibration White Finger

Vibration White Finger

travis_andersen • January 21, 2018 • 5 min read

Vibration White Finger is frequently discovered in people whose jobs involve any type of vibrating machinery, particularly hand-held machinery. For this reason vibration white finger is more common in the construction industry due to the vibration of jackhammers and chainsaws etc.

What is Vibration White Finger?

Vibration white finger is when the fine blood vessels inside the fingers go into spasm due to an inconsistent blood supply. This causes the skin color to change (causing the white finger) and also creates a numbness and lack of sensitivity. This occurs either spontaneously for no apparent reason, or when the hands and fingers become cold.

Spotting Vibration White Finger

You can often spot vibration white finger as the fingers will turn a pale color, then a blue color due to lack of circulation, then finally returning to a red color as the circulation increases. Vibration white finger can cause the fingers to tingle and/or burn particularly as the blood flow returns to normal.

At the beginning, you may find just one single fingertip will turn white and ache, gradually followed by the rest of the finger.

Vibration White Finger symptoms are usually all seen in the hands, in particular the fingers. Due to a deficiency in the supply of blood to the fingers, they may become numb, and pale in color. This interrupted blood supply may also cause the fingers to go into spasm.

Most attacks are fairly minor and do not cause a great deal of pain (more discomfort than pain) though the condition if not monitored can develop into skin ulcers and more.

Common Vibration White Finger Symptoms: If you’re concerned about vibration white finger symptoms, you should look out for the following key points in both your hands and even arms:

  • A Pins and Needles Sensation
  • A drop in temperature (feeling colder than usual)
  • A loss of sensation (numbness, lack of feeling)
  • Pale patches on your skin (caused by lack of blood supply)

Preventing Vibration White Finger Symptoms: There are a few techniques you can apply to try and prevent the symptoms becoming worse, such as:

  • Talking to your doctor to see if the symptoms can be treated
  • Trying to keep your hands as warm as possible to increase and encourage circulation
  • Exercise, with the view to increasing blood circulation
  • Quitting smoking, smoking encourages the blood vessels to narrow thus reducing blood supply.

Should you experience these symptoms without having exposed yourself to vibrating machinery etc. it could well be linked to Raynauds Disease which affects 1 in 10 women with mild symptoms.

Vibration White Finger can also be known as Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).

Treating Vibration White Finger

One of the simplest solutions to help vibration white finger is to keep your hands warm. By doing this you will encourage the blood vessels to remain open and lower the chance of them going into spasm. There are a few prescriptive medicines that can help alleviate the symptoms of vibration white finger but of course you’ll have to go and see your Doctor for the best advice. It is thought that smoking can aggravate the problem.

It also goes without saying, that if you can avoid the original source that causes the vibration white finger then you should do so, or at least stick to the minimum usage times employed by such machinery.