What is a medical term for a bruise or a black and blue mark?
Ecchymosis is the medical term for the common bruise.
What is a black and blue skin bruise called?
Bruises start black and blue, brownish or purple. They change color as they fade (often without treatment). Older people are more prone to bruising. Hematomas are painful, swollen bruises that can affect internal organs. Hematomas may require medical attention.
What does black and blue bruise mean?
Black and blue marks are often associated with bruises. A bruise, or contusion, appears on the skin due to trauma. Examples of trauma are a cut or a blow to an area of the body. The injury causes tiny blood vessels called capillaries to burst. Blood gets trapped below the skin’s surface, which causes a bruise.
What is a ecchymosis in medical term?
(EH-kih-MOH-sis) A small bruise caused by blood leaking from broken blood vessels into the tissues of the skin or mucous membranes.
What causes black and blue marks on your skin?
Most bruises form when small blood vessels (capillaries) near the skin’s surface are broken by the impact of a blow or injury — often on the arms or legs. When this happens, blood leaks out of the vessels and initially appears as a black-and-blue mark.
What is a purpura in medical terms?
Purpura occurs when small blood vessels leak blood under the skin. Purpura measure between 4 and 10 mm (millimeters) in diameter. When purpura spots are less than 4 mm in diameter, they are called petechiae. Purpura spots larger than 1 cm (centimeter) are called ecchymoses. Platelets help the blood clot.
What is difference between petechiae and purpura?
Petechiae are small (1–3 mm), red, nonblanching macular lesions caused by intradermal capillary bleeding (Figure 181-1). Purpura are larger, typically raised lesions resulting from bleeding within the skin (Figures 181-2 and 181-3).
What is ITP syndrome?
Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a blood disorder characterized by a decrease in the number of platelets in the blood. Platelets are cells in the blood that help stop bleeding. A decrease in platelets can cause easy bruising, bleeding gums, and internal bleeding.
What makes bruises turn black and blue?
Bruises are often referred to as black-and-blue marks since the lack of oxygen reaching the trapped blood makes it appear blue. Bruises follow a standard course: the reddish appearance of the bruise will turn into a dark black-and-blue mark during the first few days after an injury.
How do you heal black and blue bruises?
In most cases, a bruise will disappear on its own within two weeks. Caring for a black and blue injury will help to reduce the size of the bruise and relieve some of the pain associated with it. Apply a cold compress to the black and blue injury for approximately 20 minutes immediately following the injury.
Why does a bruise turn black and blue?
Bruises occur when small blood vessels under the skin rupture and blood seeps into the surrounding tissue, which causes the familiar black and blue color of a bruise. Bruises, which are also called contusions, can be the result of falling, bumping into something, or being struck by a blunt object.
Why does the skin turn blue when bruised?
Bruises develop when small blood vessels under the skin tear or rupture, most often from a bump or fall. Blood leaks into tissues under the skin and causes the black-and-blue color. As bruises (contusions) heal, usually within 2 to 4 weeks, they often turn colors, including purplish black, reddish blue, or yellowish green.