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Summary
A bruise is a mark on your skin caused by
blood trapped under the surface. It happens when an injury crushes
small blood vessels but does not break the skin. Those vessels break
open and leak blood under the skin.
Bruises are often painful and swollen. You can get skin, muscle and bone bruises. Bone bruises are the most serious.
It can take months for a bruise to fade, but most last about two weeks. They start off a reddish color, and then turn bluish-purple and greenish-yellow before returning to normal. To reduce bruising, ice the injured area and elevate it above your heart. See your healthcare provider if you seem to bruise for no reason, or if the bruise appears to be infected.
Bruises are often painful and swollen. You can get skin, muscle and bone bruises. Bone bruises are the most serious.
It can take months for a bruise to fade, but most last about two weeks. They start off a reddish color, and then turn bluish-purple and greenish-yellow before returning to normal. To reduce bruising, ice the injured area and elevate it above your heart. See your healthcare provider if you seem to bruise for no reason, or if the bruise appears to be infected.
Treatments and Therapies
- Black Eye: First Aid (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
- Bruises, First Aid (Logical Images)
Specific Conditions
- Black Eye (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Available in Spanish
- Bruising Hands and Arms (American Osteopathic College of Dermatology)
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Immune Thrombocytopenia
(National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
Images
- Bruise healing - slideshow Available in Spanish
Health Check Tools
- Easy Bruising (DSHI Systems)
Clinical Trials
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ClinicalTrials.gov: Contusions (National Institutes of Health)
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ClinicalTrials.gov: Hematoma (National Institutes of Health)
Journal ArticlesReferences and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
Children
- What's a Bruise? (Nemours Foundation) Available in Spanish
Teenagers
- Quadriceps Contusion (Nemours Foundation) Available in Spanish
Seniors
- Easy Bruising: Common as You Age (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
Patient Handouts
- Bleeding into the skin Available in Spanish
- Bruise Available in Spanish
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U.S. National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
National Institutes of Health
Page last updated on 10 February 2015
Topic last reviewed: 10 February 2015
