# What happens to the pooled blood after an internal injury? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-pooled-blood-after-an-internal-injury/291782 "2005-02-24T23:27:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-pooled-blood-after-an-internal-injury/291782/1 "2005-02-24T23:27:49Z")
Whilst contemplating the rather complex (and slightly alarming) array of colors my right arm and fingers have turned since a recent fracture near the wrist, it occurs to me I’ve never understood the process by which a bruised area returns to normal. For example: just now, the extremeties of my right thumb and fingers show a dark purplish blotching under the skin which I presume is pooled blood. This seems to have been a result of the doctor’s manipulations while resetting the the broken bone. Moving back toward the site of the injury, the skin coloring goes much more toward a weirdly yellow, jaundice-like condition. If things go like they have for the couple of other similar injuries I’ve had, over the course of a week or two this coloration will simply fade away. My questions are these: 1) What fluids or states do these colors represent? 2) what eventually happens to the pooled blood under the skin; that is, does it somehow return to the circulating system, is it ‘collected’ or consumed by cells in the area, broken down chemically into something else, or what? Any assistance in dispelling my ignorance of this process will be greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-pooled-blood-after-an-internal-injury/291782/2 "2005-02-24T23:35:33Z")
WAG: Blood cells (if I’m remembering bio class correctly) automatically break down over a few days, regardless. So blood outside of the circulatory system probably just hangs out, breaks down, and the ‘fragments’ are reabsorbed into the body, reprocessed, etc. Re: colors: Could it be that the darker colors are blood, with varying degrees of closeness to the surface and concentration of red blood cells? Eg, the yellow-ish hue is because there are few red blood cells and far more platelets and leukocytes (if that’s the correct term for white blood cells, which I completely doubt it is). ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-pooled-blood-after-an-internal-injury/291782/3 "2005-02-25T02:19:15Z")
Part of the color is due to the body breaking down the red cells and scavenging the iron for reuse in manufacturing more hemoglobin. As the old heme is broken down you get interestingly tinted compounds-greenish and yellowish (biliverdin and bilirubin if I remember correctly). These are also responsible for the basic color of urine and stool. Oh, white blood cells are indeed leukocytes. Red cells are erythrocytes and platelets are thrombocytes. Aren’t you glad you know that now? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-pooled-blood-after-an-internal-injury/291782/4 "2005-02-25T02:24:15Z")
Phagocytes chew up the refuse. 😉