An objective test is needed to confirm a patient`s history of vibration-induced white finger. The rewarming time of fingers a fter cold pro vocation (hand cooling) in water at lOoC, during ischemia and accompanied by body heating, has been measured in three groups of subjects. For normal men the mean rewarming time was 1.38 (SD 0.48) min with an upper 99 % confidence limit of 2.63 min. For men with Raynaud`s phenomenon who had not been exposed to vibration, the median rewarming time was 8.8 min . For men with vibrat ion-induced white finger (VWF) the median rewarming time was 2.9 min. The rewarming time was significantly prolonged in the symptomatic groups when compared with that of the normal group, but it failed to discriminate between the pat ients with VWF and those with Raynaud`s phenomenon with other etiologies.

Key terms cold provocation; digital rewarming time; Raynauds phenomenon; vibration-induced white finger