Reading the Patient: Skin, Consciousness, and Breathing

Skin signs

A sign is what you observe, such as sweating. A symptom is what the patient reports, such as nausea. The skin gives fast signs. Pallor, unusually pale skin, suggests shock, blood loss, anemia or fainting. Cyanosis is a blue or gray tint of the lips, nail beds and earlobes, and it means low oxygen in the blood. In darker skin, check the lips, gums, nail beds and inner eyelids. Jaundice is yellow skin and yellow sclera, the whites of the eyes, from bilirubin in liver disease or a blocked bile duct. Flushed, hot, dry skin suggests fever, heat illness or high blood sugar. Diaphoresis, heavy sweating with cool, clammy skin, suggests shock, low blood sugar or a heart attack.