What Skin Color and Temperature Say About Your Child's Health

The color and temperature of a child's skin can be used as an indication of a child's circulation and cardiovascular function. When a child is ill or injured, changes in the skin color and/or temperature are used to assess the extent of illness and the response to any interventions that are performed.

In a normal, healthy infant or child, the skin color and temperature of the skin should be the same over the trunk and the extremities. The palms of the hands, soles of the feet, nail beds and mucous membranes such as the lips and inner eyelids should be pink in comparison to the color of the rest of the skin.

When an infant or child is experiencing deterioration of their ability to perfuse their body, the extremities are almost always affected first. As circulatory function worsens the skin may become cool and change color becoming either pale, dusky (bluish) or mottled.

The skin temperature should be consistent through out the child's body in a normal, healthy child. To accurately assess skin temperature, the back of the hand should be used. This is because the back of the hand has thinner skin than the palm and is, therefore, more sensitive to temperature variation.

A useful way to detect temperature change in an infant or child's skin is to start at the hand or foot and slide the back of one's hand up to determine if there is a point where the skin temperature becomes warmer. The point at which the skin becomes warmer can then be monitored for improvement as the child responds to therapy. As the child responds positively to medical interventions, the point of temperature change should move further down toward the hand or foot.

When a parent or health care provider is assessing the skin color and temperature of an infant or child, it is important to consider the temperature of the environment that the child is in. A cool or cold environment will cause vasoconstriction in the extremities and result in skin changes much like those seen during poor circulatory function. The child's skin may appear mottled or pale and cool to the touch, especially in the hands and feet. However, the child may have perfectly normal cardiovascular function.

The skin color and temperature of an infant or child's skin can reveal important information about the child's health. Poor perfusion resulting from a struggling cardiovascular systems results in skin changes that should be recognized by parents and health care providers.

Source: Pediatric Advanced Life Support. American Heart Association. 2006.