Bruises are changes that appear on the skin, inter alia, after suffering an injury. They usually last for a dozen or so days, and then - completely spontaneously - disappear. Read on why people get bruises and whether there are ways to make them fade faster. What are the causes of spontaneous bruising?
What are bruises?
Bruises(in medical terminology referred to ashaemorrhages ) are subcutaneous hemorrhages of various sizes. They typically appear directly in the subcutaneous tissue. Sometimes, however, bruises can also develop within deeper tissues. Their occurrenceoccurs when the patient has extravasation , i.e. extravasation outside the blood vessels.
Causes of bruises
The most common bruisesare caused by damage to the blood vessels , which may result from some trauma. Then these changes are especially visible in the youngest, who often fall down or - out of inattention - unconsciously hit various household items.
It happens, however, that the patient notices the presence of a bruise, and at the same time he does not associate any situation in which he could hit something.The tendency for bruising to appear easily on the skin should definitely attract the patient's attention.This could be a sign of platelet dysfunction, blood vessel abnormalities, or some type of blood clotting disorder.
Bruises and platelets
Platelets (thrombocytes) are involved, inter alia, in in blood clotting. For this reason, abnormalities in both their activity and quantity can lead to easy bruising of the patient.A reduced number of platelets may be a consequence of a deficiency of certain substances in the body(e.g. vitamin B12, iron or folic acid), but it may also occur in the course of various infections (such as mononucleosis or rubella).
Sometimes the tendency to bruise easilyis a symptom of cancer . First of all, it is worth mentioning here neoplasms of the hematopoietic system, such asleukemias or myelodysplastic syndromese. Bruising can occur frequentlyobserve people taking antiplatelet drugs (which include, among others, aspirin) and people abusing alcohol, in whom both the production of platelets and their function may be impaired.
Bruises and blood vessels
Due to the fact that bruises occur due to extravasation of blood. Rather, it is not difficult to guess that they can arise with increased ease when there is some weakening of the structure of the blood vessel walls. Such a phenomenon may be a consequence of age. In the elderly, theblood vessels become brittlenaturally due to the weakening of the collagen and elastin fibers that build them. However, you cannot blame age alone. Vitamin C deficiency may also be the cause of the weakening of the vascular walls.
Various hormones also have an influence on the condition of the blood vessels.In young patients, bruises may be observed especially during periods of menstrual bleeding , which may be the result of the influence of female sex hormones on blood vessels. However, glucocorticosteroids, i.e. adrenal hormones, are much more important in this case.Adrenal steroids have the ability to weaken collagen synthesis- for this reason, bruises can often be seen in patients suffering from Cushing's syndrome or disease, as well as those who, for some reason, take preparations containing glucorticosteroids.
Read also:Diet for joints will help with inflammation and joint pain
Bruises and blood coagulation disorders
Another problem that may increase the chance of bruising isblood clotting disorder . They can result from deficiencies of clotting factors - both congenital and acquired pathologies can lead to them. The former include, for example,hemophilia and von Willebrand disease , and the latter are deficient in clotting factors resulting from liver dysfunction or vitamin K deficiency.
Bruising may also appear frequently in people who are taking anticoagulant medications, e.g. for having atrial fibrillation.
Home remedies for bruises
Bruisesdisappear completely spontaneously , usually after a few or several days. However, some patients would prefer these changes to disappear from their skin much faster. There are, of course, methods by which this result can be achieved. The duration of the bruise is influenced by the procedure immediately after the injury.In such a case, simply apply a coldcompressor some other cold object. Thanks to this, it is possible to constrict the blood vessels, which will limit the outflow of blood beyond them and this may ultimately reduce the size of the bruise.
Other methods for bruising are also recommended.One of the most popular are cabbage leaf compresses.They are supposed to reduce swelling and have anti-inflammatory properties. As a home remedy for bruising, there are alsowarm compresses, which can be used about a day after the appearance of the bruise.They are designed to dilate blood vessels and thus accelerate the absorption of extravasated blood.
Pharmaceutical preparations for bruises
If you want to speed up the disappearance of bruises, you can use home remedies or usespecialist preparations.You can buy, for example, cooling patches or ointments containing horse chestnut extract, or preparations with arnica.
Read also:How to get rid of bruises on the body? Proven ways to deal with bruises
When to see a doctor with bruises?
Generally speaking,bruises are definitely harmless . This does not mean, however, that they can always be underestimated. Sometimes bruising definitely requires going to a doctor for consultation. A specialist should be consulted when they occur frequently and for no apparent reason. As it was mentioned earlier,this problem can be a symptom of even such dangerous diseases as neoplastic diseases , in the case of which early treatment significantly improves the patient's prognosis.
Bibliography:
- Neutze D., Roque J., "Clinical Evaluation of Bleeding and Bruising in Primary Care", American Family Physican, on-line access: https://www.aafp.org/afp/2016/0215/ afp20160215p279.pdf
- Interna Szczeklika 2022/2020, pub. Practical Medicine
- Ask a specialist - can SINIAK develop Cancer?
- Hemophilia - an inherited blood disease
- Melanoma: causes, symptoms, treatment