Hickeys are usually harmless bruises from broken blood vessels but can rarely be dangerous if aggressive suction near the neck's carotid artery causes a blood clot, potentially leading to a stroke, notes MedicineNet, thehealthsite.com, and YouTube. While typically just a temporary tender bruise, they can cause social embarrassment, and broken skin risks infection or virus transmission.
Although typically harmless, hickeys are minor injuries. In rare cases, an aggressive hickey on the neck, particularly near the carotid artery, can injure a blood vessel, lead to clots, and potentially cause a stroke. They can also get infected or transmit viruses like oral herpes if the skin is broken.
The truth is, hickeys, or “love bites,” are really no big deal. There's never any reason to shame someone for having one — like all forms of consensual sexual behavior, you don't have to justify someone making out with your neck!
It's not impossible that a hickey could cause a blood clot that leads to a stroke, but it's incredibly unlikely, according to Charles Abrams, president of the American Society of Hematology and a hematologist at the University of Pennsylvania. It could happen if a person's blood vessels are torn during the chomp.
Internal jugular vein thrombosis, which is a blood clot in a vein in the neck, can show up with various symptoms. These might include redness, swelling, and a warm feeling along a major neck muscle (the sternocleidomastoid). Such symptoms can make it look like a neck infection, like cellulitis.
Recognizing the Signs of a Blood Clot After a Bruise
Some of the most common symptoms include: A bruise that lasts longer than two weeks. A lump under the skin. Pain.
How Long Do Hickeys Last? Like other bruises, hickeys can take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks to go away. Hickeys are superficial bruises, which means they are on the surface of your skin. These types of bruises usually don't take as long to heal as deeper bruises like black eyes.
In some circles, hickeys symbolize youthful exuberance and romantic escapades; in others, they may carry connotations of immaturity or recklessness. Regardless of perception, there's no denying their ability to spark conversations—or perhaps raise eyebrows—in social settings.
Warm compress
Warmth helps nearby blood vessels to dilate, or open up. This may make it easier for the trapped blood beneath the skin to be reabsorbed or broken down. You can apply a warm compress for 5 to 10 minutes to your hickey once or twice a day. For your compress, you can use a reusable heating pad.
A hickey is sometimes used to mark someone as being the target of a partner's romantic affection or as belonging to them.
The sensible and appropriate thing any person should do if they find that they have a hickey is to make some effort to conceal it, whether by clothing or with make-up, before attending work.
The experience of a hickey being used as a "mark of ownership" makes them especially unpopular. We live in a society where no one should be the property of another person. So: There's little against hickies, but a lot to be said for putting them on your partner in places where not everyone can see them.
A hickey is caused by the application of pressure onto the skin, which leads to the rupture of blood vessels underneath the skin, causing a bruise,” Scottsdale, Arizona-based Jennifer Sawaya, MD, dermatologist and cosmetic and laser specialist with US Dermatology Partners, tells Health.
For the first 48 hours after getting the hickies, avoid activities that may increase swelling, such as hot showers, hot tubs, hot packs, or alcoholic beverages. Protect the area from further “trauma.” Gently massage the hickey to increase blood flow and relieve pain. Be careful not to rub the area if it hurts too much.
They are usually found on the neck. However, the skin in the crook of your elbow or on the inner thigh are also pleasurable locations.
Love bite – You call them hickies – the things you do to yourself as a youngster with the vacuum cleaner attachment to make it look like someone fancies you!
Best Excuses to Use to Explain Away a Hickey
A lover's light biting or suction can result in hickeys, which are dark red or purple bruises on the skin. Under-skin blood vessels may burst, bleed, and swell as a result of the suction. The effects of a common hickey usually go away in two weeks and are not dangerous.
Key takeaways. Unexplained bruising on your legs can be caused by vitamin deficiencies, liver disease, autoimmune conditions, or blood disorders that affect clotting. Certain medications like blood thinners, NSAIDs, and even some supplements can also increase bruising.
The five key warning signs of a deep vein blood clot (DVT) often include swelling, pain/tenderness, warmth, redness/discoloration, and sometimes visible veins, usually in one leg or arm, while signs of a pulmonary embolism (PE) like sudden shortness of breath or chest pain are medical emergencies. Recognizing these symptoms early is crucial, as DVT can travel to the lungs, causing a potentially fatal PE.
Yellow or green: Between 5–10 days, the bruise turns yellow or green due to biliverdin and bilirubin produced while breaking down hemoglobin. Yellowish-brown or light brown: Around 10–14 days, the bruise enters its final healing stage.