Frostbite? Or just a squished toe

So I did my first multi pitch a couple weeks ago (2pitches mostly face climbing). It was early in the morning and superrrrr cold about 30 degrees. After we got done I took my shoes off that are about 2 American sizes downsized and my toes were bright yellow. After a little bit of sitting in the car and warming my body back up the toe next to my pinky just kept hurting really bad. Fast forward a couple weeks it’s still swollen, discolored (like a dark red with sometimes a purple line going through it (maybe a vein)) and parts of it hurts with any sort of pressure and other parts of it I can’t even feel. My mom thought I got frost bite and everyone else I’ve talked to has never had that happen. Any one else have had this happen or may know what’s wrong? 

I haven't had this happen, but I have gotten frost bite and I had really bad blistering. If there is no blistering along with the swelling, it's probably not frost bite. 

I was on a wall where the first pitches were shaded and we were really cold. My left pinky toe was without feeling for a while and looked whitish. Still not sure if I had low grade frostbite but definitely some cold related tissue damage. Feeling eventually returned, but my toes get colder now ice climbing and I have to take care of my feet more. It's very possible you might as well so make sure to keep an eye on it. 

If you are concerned about it, consider getting it checked out while you still are showing symptoms. Even if they can't do anything they might have suggestions for management/ tell you what it is. 

Couple weeks ago? No wholesale loss of skin layers?

Keep it clean and wait and see.

Caveat: I’m no doctor.

I can't say for sure but you could be suffering from chilblains. It is a condition caused by cold (but not freezing) temps. As far as I understand it, in certain circumstances if you warm up too rapidly after the cold exposure your capillaries expand too fast and sort of burst. This results in painful or itchy toes, often with discoloration on the tips of the toes.

I likely dealt with this earlier this year after taking some new ice boots out for a spin that were a half size too small. I went and saw a doctor eventually. I didn't get a clear cut diagnosis but chilblains was the leading theory. Treatment was essentially self-care and try not to cram them in tight shoes/boots in cold weather (yeah, right). The doctor also prescribed some sort of steroid ointment that is used for folks with Raynaud's. I only used that once and otherwise didn't really follow the advice to avoid tight shoes/boots. But fortunately the pain/itchiness has totally gone away and I've continued to climb in cold weather just fine, though I am a bit more thoughtful about warming up my shoes or boots before I put them on, not jumping straight into a hot shower with cold feet, and keeping a dry pair of socks on hand for the drive home.

Odd its still purple after two weeks.  Blisters and sluffing skin happen when you freeze your tissues.  Compression injury could be the likely culprit.  Very little circulation in your pinky toe to flush out bruising and speed healing.  Tiger Balm Ultra can help with bloodflow.  

With a cold injury the cells burst and it takes about two weeks to make new ones.  When you freeze something, youre painfully aware of it for those couple weeks.  Nerve damage hangs around for years and years.  In those two weeks, although the skin is not broken, infection can pass thru the burst cells beneath and into your bone.  This generally ends in requiring lopping off.  Once infection gets into your bones, it can spread very quickly and things get serious fast.  A blister forms when there is this degree of freeze damage.  

You gotta keep that lil guy super clean!  Though it seems you suffer more from squeezing than freezing, and need not fear infection.  Tea tree oil is antiseptic.  Great to rub all 9ver your feet after every climbing session.  Brave Soldier ointment is an awesome small-company 'neosporin' that has lidocaine in it.  

If youre gonna just go ahead and lop it off, place a sharp and sterilized hatchet on the spot and whack it good with a mini sledge.  If you just swing the hatchet you dont have accuracy on your side

I’m a doctor, my guess is you have about 48 hours left to live. For what it’s worth my suggestion is to spend your entire tax return on presents for your boyfriend. Hope this helps

I think Stiles is mostly right. True freezing injury will be blistering and weeping. I think you did two different things at once--a non-freezing cold tissue injury due in part to bad circulation, and nerve damage which could be pinching or cold related. 

I'm sitting here typing only kinda able to feel my pinky finger due to being over ambitious about how much heat I'd be generating during a recent ski race. I should have started out with they heavier gloves... It was painful, then numb during the race and the numbness has not gone away (and I don't expect it to for months). No color change though. Only thing to really do for all of it is to take the best care you can and give it time.

Doesn't sound like frostbite. Probably just a bit of nerve damage. 

Your shoes are too small and you’ve given yourself nerve damage. 

I work outdoors in the winter and I get similar symptoms on my smaller toes a couple times a year when it's really cold, I always assumed it was chilblains, and they usually go away after a couple of weeks. I get it either on extremely cold days or else on rainy days when my feet have been drenched all day - in both cases, they get red and painful after they warm back up. (The wet version of this might be trenchfoot?? All kinds of yucky foot stuff...) Anyway, if it is chilblains, it's hard to actually find useful info on how to treat it, like the above poster said, but they do go away.  

Try a mineral warm foot soak? I am not a dr. just an advocate for the kitchen sink approach.