bruising and bloodletting

[Suezoled]

Okay, say you have a bruise. And it's swollen and painful and shows the colors of the sunset. Is it a harmful thing to drain the bruise of the blood that's collected into it?

And if it's not: Would it be better to use a sterilized knife, or leeches?

*I've got a diet pepsi riding on this answer here*

[Eos of the Eons]

I hope TT can offer you some factual advice. Meanwhile, that bruise is a blood clot. Blood clots are needed to keep you from bleeding to death. If you drain said bruise somehow, then another will just form in its place until the damaged tissue is repaired.

Use some ice to help with the swelling. Hmm, maybe some ibuprofen wouldn't be a bad idea.

I hope you can sit? How are you going to put SCAM in their place if you can't sit at work??

[EdipisReks]

i'd use a laser. hard to get an infection from a laser.

[Badly Shaved Monkey]

Originally posted by Suezoled
Okay, say you have a bruise. And it's swollen and painful and shows the colors of the sunset. Is it a harmful thing to drain the bruise of the blood that's collected into it?

And if it's not: Would it be better to use a sterilized knife, or leeches?

*I've got a diet pepsi riding on this answer here*

A bruise is not an accumulation of fluid in a cavity that can be drained. It is blood that has oozed into interstitial spaces and clotted at a microscopic level. A haematoma is a mass of blood in a space, and this could be drained.

[Anders]

Originally posted by Eos of the Eons
I hope TT can offer you some factual advice. Meanwhile, that bruise is a blood clot. Blood clots are needed to keep you from bleeding to death. If you drain said bruise somehow, then another will just form in its place until the damaged tissue is repaired.

Use some ice to help with the swelling. Hmm, maybe some ibuprofen wouldn't be a bad idea.

I hope you can sit? How are you going to put SCAM in their place if you can't sit at work??
I would do....Nothing...bruises are best handled by our beautiful body.

[Khonshu]

I'd like to hear from the medical people, but what I've always heard is ice it for the first 24-48 hours (cold restricts the blood vessels & speeds clotting which reduces the size of the bruise), then use heat on it to open the blood vessels back up to clear it out.

Of the options presented, I would guess leeches would work best because of the anticoagulents (hope I spelled that right) they use when feeding. After the bruised tissue has had time to quit hemmoraging, of course. Otherwise, you just might get some very fat leeches and a bigger bruised area.

[Suezoled]

Originally posted by Badly Shaved Monkey
A bruise is not an accumulation of fluid in a cavity that can be drained. It is blood that has oozed into interstitial spaces and clotted at a microscopic level. A haematoma is a mass of blood in a space, and this could be drained.

Thanks!

One diet pepsi for me! Wahaha!

ps: Eos: my bruise is fine and dandy. I just used ice and tylenol. But then some of us got into a discussion about whether or not it's okay to drain the bruise like in the "old days." Feh with the old days. I said there was no way I'd cut myself open or let bloodsuckers feed off of me; well, as least not literally.

[epepke]

I think you may mean a hematoma or "blood blister" rather than a bruise. It's a bad idea to drain either, because the remaining flap of skin is a good place for bacteria. I have removed some fluid from blisters with insulin syringes, but blood is a bit thick. for the tiny needle.