Blue skin Assessment Questionnaire

Questions Your Doctor May Ask - and Why!

During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques to assess the symptom: Blue skin. These will include a physical examination and possibly diagnostic tests. (Note: A physical exam is always done, diagnostic tests may or may not be performed depending on the suspected condition) Your doctor will ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to openly share any pertinent information to help your doctor make an accurate diagnosis.

It is also very important to bring an up-to-date list of all of your all medical conditions, medications including dosages, and names of numbers of any specialist you see.

Create your printable checklist by answering questions that your doctor may ask below:

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How long have you noticed that you have blue skin?
Why: to determine if acute or chronic.
Is it intermittent or constant?
Why: e.g. appears with cold exposure suggests Raynaud's phenomenon and livedo reticularis.
Is it localized or generalized?
If generalized, which areas of the body does it affect?
Is the blueness limited to one limb?
Why: may suggest an arterial or venous thrombosis.
Is the blueness limited to the peripheries?(e.g. blue hands and lips)
Why: this indicates a lack of blood supply to those parts of the body and may indicate exposure to cold, Raynaud's disease, Raynaud's phenomenon, peripheral vascular disease, left ventricular failure or shock.
If also blue tongue, is there a history of drug ingestion?
Why: e.g. potassium chlorate, sulfanilamide and coal tar may cause hemoglobin abnormalities and thus central cyanosis.
Past medical history?
Why: if blue hands, possible causes of Raynaud's phenomenon include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, polyarteritis nodosa, Buerger's disease, polycythaemia, leukemia, polymyositis , dermatomyositis.
Medications?
Why: beta-blocker blood pressure medications and ergotamine can cause Raynaud's phenomenon.
Cigarette smoking?
Why: aggravates Raynaud's phenomenon and peripheral vascular disease.
Occupational history?
Why: vibrating machinery workers are at risk of Raynaud's phenomenon.
Blue tongue
Why: may indicate central cyanosis which is due to a lack of oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood vessels and thus may indicate high altitude, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary embolism, cyanotic congenital heart disease, polycythaemia or hemoglobin abnormalities. Any cause of central cyanosis can cause peripheral cyanosis and thus blue skin.
Significant shortness of breath?
Why: should consider a lung or heart origin for the blue hands e.g. cyanotic congenital heart disease, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary fibrosis or pulmonary emphysema.
Symptoms of Raynaud's phenomenon (if blue hands)?
Why: e.g. sequential discoloration of the digits from pallor to blueness to redness upon exposure to cold. When fingers become red they are painful.

Conditions listing medical symptoms: Blue skin:

The following list of conditions have 'Blue skin' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.

Select from the following alphabetical view of conditions which include a symptom of Blue skin or choose View All.

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Conditions listing medical complications: Blue skin:

The following list of medical conditions have 'Blue skin' or similar listed as a medical complication in our database.

» Next page: Types of Blue skin

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