Sun Bruise

As we age, our skin becomes less elastic and more easily damaged. Exposure to the sun also weakens the walls of blood vessels. These changes increase the chance of bruising. These bruises can occur after even minor injuries, such as lightly hitting your hand or arm against something.

The bruises most commonly appear in the areas of the body exposed to the sun, such as the hands, arms, and legs. You also can get the bruises on your face, but it is not common. Mild symptoms of solar purpura typically clear up on their own. 1

The cushioning effect of the skin decreases as the fat under the skin decreases. These changes, along with skin damage from exposure to the sun, cause blood vessels to break easily. When blood vessels break, bruising occurs.

Over time, a bruise changes color as the blood under the skin breaks down, and as the bruise heals. Bruising typically occurs when a person receives an injury to an area of their skin, such as from falling or bumping into something. The blood vessels between the skin and other tissues in the body burst.

Sun burns are first degree burns of outer skin. You will observe skin turning red. This can hurt when touched. But, these are mild. Slowly blister sets in , this would be th second degree. After this when bruises occur, its complication of above two, sun poisoning.

If you develop unexplained bruising on your arms or legs, something caused it — you touched or bumped against something that resulted in that bruise. As we age, we bruise more easily due to skin fragility. Our skin becomes thinner and blood vessels become more fragile.

Symptoms of solar purpura include purple-colored bruises, patches, and spots on the skin. The color can range from a reddish purple to a very dark purple. The condition is more pronounced in people who have fair skin. The area of the discoloration is well defined and ranges between 4 millimeters and 10 millimeters in diameter.

Solar purpura is also known as actinic purpura or senile purpura due to its prevalence in seniors. It is the deeper layer of the skin, known as the dermis, which is affected. Solar purpura is often missed as a diagnosis as it takes only minimal sun exposure to cause the condition as a result of years or decades of blood vessel weakening.

The area of the discoloration is well defined and ranges between 4 millimeters and 10 millimeters in diameter. The bruises most commonly appear in the areas of the body exposed to the sun, such as the hands, arms, and legs. You also can get the bruises on your face, but it is not common.

Most bruises heal by themselves. But when you are older and get a bruise, you also can get small cuts and tears in the area of the bruising. These can be treated like a normal cut. Since ultraviolet (UV) exposure is one of the causes of solar purpura, using sunscreen and wearing protective clothing when out in the sun can be helpful.

Allow the ice packs or cold compress to soothe the bruises for 20 to 30 minutes or until the skin feels numb. Cold compress slows down the blood flow around the injury reducing the severity of bruises. If the pain is too severe to bear, then taking anti-inflammatory pain relievers may be helpful.

This is because they are the color of the blood that has pooled underneath the skin . As a bruise heals, the body breaks down blood and fluids that have accumulated under the skin. As this happens the bruise turns different colors. Within the first few days after getting a bruise, the area may become a black mark, blue mark, or purple mark.

Following are the probable causes that trigger bleeding under the skin: With aging, the fat layers under the skin become thin. As a result, the padding effect of the skin deteriorates. For this reason, in elderly people, even a minor injury on the skin can lead to the breakage of underlying blood vessels.

Most bruises are caused by some form of blunt force trauma to blood vessels under the skin. When these blood vessels break open, blood begins to pour into the surrounding tissue. This blood pools under the skin and initially looks dark purple or deep red.

A bruise is caused by the leakage of blood out of the blood vessels and is trapped under the skin. The different colors of bruises have to do with the change in the blood as it’s broken down and re-absorbed by the body. Intially, bruises appear as reddish. It will then turn blue or dark purple within a few hours, then yellow or green as it heals.

Any kind of injury that causes the capillaries to rupture may result in a bruise. But the color of the bruise can tell you a lot. 1. Pink or Red – When a bruise first starts to appear it may give off a red or pink color because the oxygen-rich blood is leaking into your tissues from the punctured blood vessels.

Bruises typically take 2 to 4 weeks to heal. As a bruise heals blood is reabsorbed into the body. Healing is accompanied by a change to various colors ranging from purplish black to reddish blue and yellowish green as the WebMD website says.