Continuous monitoring of finger skin blood perfusion was performed in 12 men with vibration- induced white finger (VWF) and 15 exposed controls before, during and after the cold provocation test (10°C, 10min), using the laser Doppler perfusion imager (LDPI). The mean blood perfusion values in both groups reduced markedly as a result of the immersion of the hand in cold water. In the controls, however, the mean value augmented gradually to the end of the cold provocation, while that in the VWF subjects remained at the lowest level. After removal of the hand from cold water, the skin blood perfusion in the controls recovered rapidly and reached nearly to the baseline value. In the VWF subjects, it had a slight increase immediately following the cold immersion and no tendency to be augmented as the time span increased. The VWF subjects had significantly lower perfusion values compared to the controls in the last several minutes of the cold provocation test and the following recovery. The present results suggest that the LDPI technique may be useful in visualizing and quantifying the peripheral vascular effects of cold water immersion on the finger skin blood perfusion and thus can provide more detailed and accurate information that may help detect the peripheral circulatory impairment in the fingers of vibration-exposed workers.