2023-12-30 20:48:45
Hitting your hip on the corner of a table or hitting your head on a low ceiling can cause a bruise, but the cause of the bruise is sometimes unclear.
In fact, some people are more prone to bruising than others, and in rare cases, bruises seem to appear for no reason at all.
So what exactly causes a bruise?
A bruise is the body’s response to vascular injury. Bruising that is not caused by blunt force or trauma to the body might be an indicator of an underlying health condition, such as a blood disorder, said Terry Foster, a critical care clinical nurse specialist. For this reason, those who develop vague bruises should be evaluated by a health care professional.
Bruises appear when an injury damages small blood vessels at the site of the blow, causing blood to leak into the surrounding tissue, according to the National Library of Medicine’s medical resource MedlinePlus.
Even when the bleeding itself stops, the blood that has already flowed is trapped under the skin. These spots of pooled blood initially appear red, then later turn bluish-purple and greenish-yellow, although the appearance of the bruises can vary depending on the person’s skin color.
Foster said that the bruise changed color due to the decomposition of the components of the collected blood.
Blood gets its color from hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells in the bloodstream. Hemoglobin changes color to dark red when it binds to certain molecules. For example, hemoglobin is bright red when it carries oxygen but turns cherry red when it carries carbon dioxide.
When a bruise forms and blood flows from the damaged blood vessel to nearby tissues, the hemoglobin in the blood begins to give up oxygen and pick up carbon dioxide instead. The hemoglobin itself then begins to break down, turning first into a dark brown form of the protein called methemoglobin, and then into yellow pigments called biliverdin and bilirubin, according to a review published in the journal Heliyon.
Bruising generally fades within two weeks, but sometimes, it can last longer than a month, according to MedlinePlus.
Besides physical injury or trauma, bruising can occur for a number of other reasons, including: allergic reactions or blood clotting conditions.
“Individuals who take certain types of medications may also be more susceptible to bruising that is not directly caused by injury,” Foster noted.
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