# What are these welts (?) on my arm? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2023, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872 "2023-03-30T10:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/1 "2023-03-30T10:51:22Z")
For a couple of years now, these purple blotches have appeared occasionally on my forearms. They last maybe a week and slowly fade away. After a few weeks a new set will appear. Very rarely, just twice, they will bleed. They appear on either arm. I’m traveling so I included a Thai 5 baht piece in the photo for scale, very close to the size of a US quarter. I’m not alarmed, but very curious what these might be. I’ve shown pictures of them in passing to a couple of doctors (who I was seeing for other reasons) who have shrugged and told me not to worry about it. Today a companion saw them and was kind of alarmed on my behalf, so I thought I’d give an ask here. Anyone got a guess? 60yo Caucasian male. [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/sjkKSlU.jpeg "Imgur: The magic of the Internet") ](https://imgur.com/sjkKSlU) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/2 "2023-03-30T11:10:37Z")
Liver spots would be my guess. Welcome to old age is what my doctor told me. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/3 "2023-03-30T11:13:20Z")
They go away. I’d guess it’s a very shallow bruise, from something rubbing or pressing against your arm. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/4 "2023-03-30T12:01:00Z")
IANA medical anything. The fact they’re as linear as they are suggests the same idea as @puzzlegal said: you bumped the edge of a table or something unwittingly and created a line of bruises. Either that or the alien worm is slowly eating its way up your arm towards your brain. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/5 "2023-03-30T12:07:38Z")
Do you use blood thinners like Eliquis? ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/6 "2023-03-30T12:17:54Z")
My husband gets this, and my mom did, too. It has an unflattering name: “senile purpura”. It afflicts us fair-skinned folks when we get old. The slightest bruising or sun exposure will bring them on. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/7 "2023-03-30T12:21:28Z")
That is, i think they are literally welts from physical damage. Really really minor ones. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/8 "2023-03-30T12:52:18Z")
I get them all the time an I’m on blood thinners. I get them on my forearms and sometimes on my calves. I just assumed I was scratching myself at night or something. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/9 "2023-03-30T13:53:34Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Do you use blood thinners like Eliquis? I do use blood thinners (Xarelto) but the arm spots predate my blood thinner use by almost a year. I almost wonder if the blotches heralded my future [blood clot in my leg.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foot-injury-advice-it-s-a-blood-clot/970446) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/10 "2023-03-30T13:57:05Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’d guess it’s a very shallow bruise, from something rubbing or pressing against your arm I’d guess the same. They manifest in lines as if there were a scratch, but there’s no scratch. And scratches happen all the time, so it’s so weird I didn’t get these lines of bruisy weird things until the last couple of years. What changed? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/11 "2023-03-30T13:58:52Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > It has an unflattering name: “senile purpura”. Interesting. I googled the term and the photos looked much more severe than what I get: ugly blotches the size of an orange across your arm. But this sounds like what may be happening maybe, and thank you. ETA: googling more senile purpura, it does look like what I have. Weird that it came on so suddenly. [![](https://healthjade.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Senile-purpura.jpg) ](https://healthjade.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Senile-purpura.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/12 "2023-03-30T14:06:26Z")
Do you have a dog that needs his nails trimmed? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/13 "2023-03-30T14:17:39Z")
Nope, no doggies ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/14 "2023-03-30T14:34:39Z")
Does it itch? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/15 "2023-03-30T14:35:16Z")
Nope! ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/16 "2023-03-30T14:48:34Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Weird that it came on so suddenly. Very likely it didn’t. It reached a magnitude and frequency that you “saw” it, but very likely was occurring a bit less notably quite a bit before that. Other possible contributors are fish oil and NSAIDS. I suspect statins as they decrease platelet aggregation but can’t find anything on it looking quickly. Mostly though it’s just how our connective tissue in our skin ages. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/17 "2023-03-30T14:51:43Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Very likely it didn’t. It reached a magnitude and frequency that you “saw” it, but very likely was occurring a bit less notably quite a bit before that. A fair point. > [@](#): > > Other possible contributors are fish oil and NSAIDS. I suspect statins as they decrease platelet aggregation but can’t find anything on it looking quickly. I don’t take fish oil, rarely NSAIDs (and not at all on while blood thinners) and I’m not on statins. > [@DSeid](#): > > Mostly though it’s just how our connective tissue in our skin ages. Is my skin getting ‘thinner’? It was quite annoying to suddenly be bleeding from my arm while just watching TV with my friend on my couch last spring (pre thinners). I mean, WTF? No scratch, no exertion, no trauma. Sitting. On. The Couch. Am I going to just spring a leak randomly from now on? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/18 "2023-03-30T15:07:18Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Is my skin getting ‘thinner’? It was quite annoying to suddenly be bleeding from my arm while just watching TV with my friend on my couch last spring (pre thinners). I mean, WTF? No scratch, no exertion, no trauma. Sitting. On. The Couch. Am I going to just spring a leak randomly from now on? My skin has been thick and tough through my life but is now susceptible to picking up bruises like that. My dogs claws do that easily if he gets overexcited and starts jumping on me. I also get similar marks just from banging my arms against something hard and sharp like the corner of a concrete wall or a piece of angle iron. Maybe this is related to blood pressure medicines or my red blood cell count is high from erythrocytosis. And that reminds me to get my hemoglobin checked. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/19 "2023-03-30T15:12:50Z")
My dad had this (he was fair skinned) and it drove him nuts. Basically every little bump or scratch resulted in these “bruises.” He was also mad because his doctor was not concerned and also told him there was nothing that could be done. It was just part of getting old. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872/20 "2023-03-30T15:17:15Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > It has an unflattering name: “senile purpura”. It afflicts us fair-skinned folks when we get old. The slightest bruising or sun exposure will bring them on. My father had this a lot, and my mother didn’t. Both equally fair-skinned. I’m now 73 and I haven’t had any yet. I inherited a lot of unpleasant things from my mother, like allergies and eczema. Maybe I also inherited resistance to this phenomenon. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-welts-on-my-arm/981872.md?page=2)