The color of bruises or bruises

Surely at some point you have wondered why the bruise or bruise changes color as the days go by, until finally it ends up disappearing.

But before proceeding to explain why this happens, it can be a very good idea to know what is a bruise.

As you obviously know, a bruise It tends to appear on the skin as a result of a light hit or a little stronger. This is because the stroke tends to break small blood vessels or capillaries under the skin, which causes a buildup of blood.

The different colors of the bruise

Pink color

When we give ourselves the blow and begins to take place the accumulation of blood that we indicated previously as a consequence of the rupture of small capillaries or blood vessels, it is common for the skin to turn pink.

Purple-bluish color

After the pink color that appears at first after the stroke, the skin becomes a blue-purple color, which is due to the damaged red blood cells releasing hemoglobin, which acts as a pigment.

Greenish color

Once the red blood cells begin to release hemoglobin, it gradually changes into biliverdin (blue or green pigments associated with bile, from the catabolism of hemoglobin), so that the hematoma now acquires a greenish color.

Yellow color

Finally we come to the last of the "colors" of the bruise. In this stage, the biliverdin mentioned above is transformed into bilirubin, so that the skin takes a yellowish tone.

This bilirubin passes slowly to the blood bound to proteins, to go to the liver (where it will be transformed, to finally be secreted into the intestine). ThemesSkin

Muscle Contusion (Bruise) / Douglas Cutter, MD, CAQSM (March 2024)