Hickeys, which are essentially bruises from broken blood vessels, typically last a few days to two weeks, depending on intensity, but often fade within 7-10 days as your body reabsorbs the blood, changing from red to blue, purple, and eventually yellow or green before disappearing. There's no instant cure, but early icing and later warmth can help manage the healing process, with the main factor being your body's natural healing of the superficial damage.
There's no proven method to make a hickey disappear, but cool compresses, arnica cream, and creams with vitamin K may help it fade faster. A hickey will fade over time, but it can take up to 2 weeks for it to completely disappear.
For all skin tones, though, a hickey begins as darker than the surrounding skin and fades over time as your body breaks down the hemoglobin from leaked blood vessels and reabsorbs the pigments.
Hickeys start out red because of the intact red blood cells in the bruise loaded with hemoglobin underneath the skin. After a few days, the red blood cells begin to break down, and shades of blue and purple appear. You may even see some shades of brown as your body breaks down the red blood cells (Jeney, 2013).
The neck may be the most popular spot, but you can technically give a hickey to any area of sensitive skin. For a less visible and more intimate mark, try giving her a hickey on the top of her breast or the inside of her upper thigh.
Those broken vessels release tiny spots of blood called petechiae. What does a hickey look like? A collection of these blood spots forms a larger dark spot, which is basically a bruise. The bruise may change color over time from red or dark purple to yellow.
Beyond pulse dye laser, Zeichner says that topical creams like Arnica or Vitamin K are your best bet for a speedy recovery. Plus, Zeichner says if the skin barrier is disrupted and the hickey becomes dry or itchy, you can also apply Vaseline petroleum jelly to protect the skin from infection and keep the wound clean.
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.
A hickey is sometimes used to mark someone as being the target of a partner's romantic affection or as belonging to them.
“Any abrasive treatment of the skin like scrubbing with toothpaste or trying to scratch off the discoloration would be too superficial to impact the hickey. And it could even make the problem more apparent with scratches, bleeding, additional discoloration and scar formation.”
In private they're fine; if you're in public, especially at work, it's considered polite to conceal them. Or just have your partner make them in concealed locations.
Wearing a shirt or sweater to hide your hickey may be the easiest way to protect your love bite from the world. Before going out, try on different shirts to make sure your top covers your hickey entirely. Shirts with high necklines, like turtlenecks, usually work best.
Neutralize the Discoloration
Use a green color corrector for red undertones or a peach corrector for purple tones. Lightly dab it on the hickey and blend out the edges to balance the skin tone before applying foundation.
Other skin conditions that look like hickeys
It typically starts off as a red mark on your skin and turns darker and bluish purple in the first couple of days. In later hickey stages, it may turn shades of green or yellow, and then yellowish to light brown as it starts to fade.