Timeline for a bruise

Specialties Geriatric

Published

I've searched all over and can't quite seem to find what I'm looking for....

I need something from a reputable source that talks about the timeline (particularly healing time) of a bruise.

I've go higher ups with no medical degree, just "experience", that think no bruise lingers past 7 days.

Please help

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

I can't help you find a source but personally speaking I've had a bruise last for longer than 2 weeks and I'm not that old

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Specializes in LTC.

There are too many variables in human physiology to timeline bruises. A bruise may heal on one person in a week but may take a month on another.

What are you needing the information for?

If it's to monitor, I always wrote "Monitor bruise to "X" until resolved." No need to put a time limit on it.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Soft tissue damage type bruises can remain discolored for months. The ones I've seen /experienced happen over a body surface without much plush-y adipose tissue, like the flat frontal surface of a shin or foot/fist dorsum or a kneecap (or other boney surface). They kind of stay that purple-red color, not really going black/blue, until they just fade away.

And the injured area usually occurred as a result of a significant injury or trauma. Like in a car accident or a serious whack in a fall. But they can occur even after something mild.

Coagulation studies are normal.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

There is no "timeline" for bruise healing. They take however long they take. Sometimes the discoloration just fades away and that can take months. The color change in bruises is due to the breakdown of hemoglobin. Bruises never go from bump to purple right away. That can take a while to occur. As hemoglobin breaks down, you'll start seeing some wonderful coloration - purple to a blue to fun shades of green and yellow! The more you see greens and yellows and not blue or purple, the older the bruise is. I suspect that if circulation is not good, unlike in young people, it can take time to resolve a bruise.

My experience with bruises is primarily with athletes. They bruise often because they tend to collide with each other and with various equipment and they also sprain and strain things. Another interesting aspect of bruising is that if you watch it develop and change over time, they can tell you in which position a person spends much of their time as gravity will "pull" the bruise toward the most dependent area of that part of the body.

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Are you investigating a bruise or trying to determine when an injury occurred?

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Specializes in retired LTC.

To Coffee - OP has another post right now. Seems like her employer has gone off the deep-end re falls - prevention, post tx & documentation.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

I had kind of forgotten about that 'loverly' green-y yellow color.

I would sooooooo love to comment on the 2 weirdest bruises I ever observed/documented, but to do so would most CERTAINLY provide TMI for confidentiality.

Re those soft tissue injuries, they didn't seem to turn greeny-yellow. They did just seem to shrink and fade fromthat purple red color.

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