Diving Into the Spectrum of Bruises: Your Guide to the Top Five Types You Should Know About

As part of the body’s healing mechanism, bruises, or contusions, undergo a transformation of color over time. This chromatic journey, moving from shades of blue and purple to green and yellow, reflects the process of your body mending the damaged tissue and clearing up the spillage of blood.

The initial stage of a bruise is where the blood vessels under your skin break, releasing blood into surrounding tissues. This impact causes the first of the bruise colors you'll observe, typically a dark blue or purple. At this stage, the bruise may also be tender to touch, owing to the fresh inflammation.

As your body starts its clean-up operation, working to remove the spilled blood, the bruise color takes a turn. Over a number of days, the hemoglobin in the blood breaks down into other compounds, which results in a change to a blue or purple-green shade.

Finally, your bruise may morph into a pale green or yellow hue, marking the concluding phase of healing. This indicates your body has successfully taken up majority of the hemorrhaged blood. The bruise will eventually fade away, leaving your skin back to its initial state, or perhaps with a faint mark, based on the severity of the initial impact.

Hematoma: More than Just a Simple Bruise

A hematoma is not your average bruise. While both involve bleeding under the skin, a hematoma generally happens when there’s a more significant injury or impact causing a larger accumulation of blood to pool under the skin.

This type of bruise can occur in any part of your body, including your brain, which can prove to be life-threatening. Other hematomas like ear or septal hematomas may demand medical intervention to be drained and repaired.

Hematomas usually form a raised area or swelling over the bruise site, because of significant blood collection in the tissue. This swelling may be tender or painful depending on its size and position, while the skin around it may look discolored, mirroring the typical stages of a bruise.