Coffee, tea, or frostbite? A case report of inflight freezing hazard from dry ice

Occupational and recreational cold exposure is fairly well described in the literature. This is a case report of a passenger on a commercial airline flight who suffered third degree frostbile due to the attempted therapeutic use of a cold pack. This cold pack was offered by the flight attendant and consisted of a section of dry ice used for cooling in the galley. The resulting injury consisted of a full thickness cold injury of the left lumbar amounting to approximately 1.5% TBSA (total body surface area). The occurrence of third degree frostbite due to a medicinally used ice pack such as this has not been noted in the past writings. The resulting injury, care and outcome of such an injury are described and discussed.