Home Remedies for Bruises

How to get rid of bruises? Check out these home remedies for bruises, find out how long bruise healing takes place and why unexplained bruising happens.

Bruises are the purplish blue color looking skin that forms after you've bumped onto something or as a result of other type of injury such as a fall or an accident. The purplish blue color indicates that blood has seeped out from the blood vessels that were damaged.

If the bruise or known medically as contusion occurred after you hit something and isn't serious, it would take about 10 to 14 days to heal. Within this period, white blood cells will break down the red blood cells in the affected area into iron by products and they will be removed. During the process, you will notice the color turning yellowish blue followed by a little greenish and eventually will fade and restore to the original color or your skin.

However, if you did not hit anything but notice bruising whenever you touch your skin or for no reason whatsoever, there are several possible causes.

1. Vitamin K deficiency is one of the causes of unexplained bruises on any part of your body. To ascertain if this is the cause, take note if there are other symptoms such as heavy menstrual period, bleeding from gastrointestinal tract, blood in your urine or gum and nose bleeding.
   
   
   
2. Certain medications or a combination of several medications can also lead to unexplained bruising. Recall if you have started to take or mix any kind of medication right before you started bruising.
   
   
   
3. When we age, the skin becomes thinner and blood capillaries become weaker because of a decrease in collagen. This will cause blood to seep through. So, it is quite common for elderly people to develop bruises especially on the legs and arms.
   
   
   
4. Another factor that can contribute to unexplained bruising is blood related problems such as low platelet count or blood cells that are involve in blood clotting. Unexplained bruised could also indicate the early symptoms of leukemia or cancer of the blood.

This list of home remedies for bruises may help as treatment for bruises if your injury is caused by the minor hits and bumps.

Home remedies for bruises No. 1 - Use a cold compress immediately

Immediately after you've fallen or hit something, get an ice pack, wrap it around a thin cloth and place it on the affected area for 15 minutes. This first aid treatment is to stop the internal bleeding from the ruptured blood vessels and also to prevent swelling. If it's your finger or toe that was injured, soak it in iced cold water.

Home remedies for bruises No. 2 - Follow up with a warm compress

The internal bleeding would have stopped after 24 hours if you had immediately used a cold compress. What you should do next is use a warm compress. Soak a cloth in warm water, wring it and place the warm compress on the bruised area. When the heat has subsided, soak, wring and use the heat compress again and repeat the process for an hour. Do this about 4 times a day to relax the muscles surrounding the bruise.

Home remedies for bruises No. 3 - Herbal remedies

Certain herbs when applied topically may help in treating bruises. One of them is arnica extract which is available as topical cream, ointment, liniment, salve and tincture. Applying calendula gel, tincture, ointment or cream may help the body produce collagen proteins which in turn will heal skin and connective tissue and heal bruises. Comfrey ointment made from the leaves extract of the plant is also a popular herbal remedy for treating bruises.

Home remedies for bruises No. 4 - Diet and supplement

If you tend to bruise easily and suspect that it's due to deficiency in vitamin K, eat foods that contain vitamin K such as collard, kale, mustard green, spinach, Swiss chard, turnip green and raw parsley. You should also include vitamin C or grape seed extract which has the ability to strengthen blood capillaries and bilberry extract for stabilizing collagen.

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