# Why don't I have a bruise? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249 "2016-04-27T11:53:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/1 "2016-04-27T11:53:42Z")
I banged the side of my leg above and slightly to the fore of the lateral malleolus pretty hard on Monday. The spot hurts when I touch it, but there’s no bruise. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/2 "2016-04-27T12:09:28Z")
Bruises occur when you break blood vessels. If you just banged up a muscle, you may not have done that. Hence, no bruise. It’s also possible that it may take a day or two to show up. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/3 "2016-04-27T12:20:10Z")
Zombies don’t bruise. Just sayin’ . . . ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/4 "2016-04-27T13:06:18Z")
The bruise may be too far beneath the surface to be visible. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/5 "2016-04-27T13:18:49Z")
I used to do a lot of martial arts. I was regularly confounded by what sorts of things would result and bruises, and which wouldn’t. Very often I’d know I took a hard shot somewhere, and it would hurt after, but no bruise. But then I’d have I nice purple handprint where someone apparently grabbed me - that I didn’t recall and that didn’t hurt. No clear rhyme or reason I could tell. Same applied to simple life’s bumps. Walk into a coffee table - nothing. Bump iyour shoulder, huge bruise. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/6 "2016-04-27T15:15:56Z")
I used to bruise when I was a kid, but don’t now. Not sure why that changed. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/7 "2016-04-27T16:04:06Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Zombies don’t bruise. Just sayin’ . . . Bad **Muffin** , bad! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/8 "2016-04-27T16:25:49Z")
Sometimes if I have REALLY bruised myself, it takes a while to show up, sometimes long enough that it doesn’t really hurt by the time you can see it. Everyone says “OMG! That must HURT?” and I’m thinking “A week ago, yes. Now, not so much…” ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/9 "2016-04-27T16:37:16Z")
How do you bruise a crystalline structure? Scratch it maybe, but bruise? Sometimes it takes a few days for bruises to show up. Way back in the day when I played football, games were on Saturdays, and bruises would mysteriously show up Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday depending on the area, how hard the impact was, and if there was padding there. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/10 "2016-04-27T17:03:25Z")
Hey, **Quartz** , come over here and let me see. I’m a doctor you know, sez so right in my user name. OK, lie back on this exam table and stretch out that leg. Does it hurt when I do this? Mmhmm. How about this? Mmmmhmmm. WHACK! There, you should have a bruise shortly. That will be $7,000. Please pay the receptionist on the way out. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/11 "2016-04-27T17:10:10Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > Sometimes if I have REALLY bruised myself, it takes a while to show up, sometimes long enough that it doesn’t really hurt by the time you can see it. Everyone says “OMG! That must HURT?” and I’m thinking “A week ago, yes. Now, not so much…” My mom got hit by a hockey puck on her shoulder a few months ago. She was fine but she was surprised she didn’t get a bruise right away. I told her to wait a few days. Three days later she sends me a picture of an impressive technicolor bruise. She said it didn’t even hurt anymore but looked terrible. My bruises tend to show up sooner rather than later. I wonder if it’s because I have very fair skin- like one step above albino fair. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/12 "2016-04-27T21:50:51Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I used to do a lot of martial arts. I was regularly confounded by what sorts of things would result and bruises, and which wouldn’t. Very often I’d know I took a hard shot somewhere, and it would hurt after, but no bruise. But then I’d have I nice purple handprint where someone apparently grabbed me - that I didn’t recall and that didn’t hurt. No clear rhyme or reason I could tell. > > Same applied to simple life’s bumps. Walk into a coffee table - nothing. Bump iyour shoulder, huge bruise. " 'Cause I’m a karate man! And a karate man bruises on the inside! " - Billy Ray Valentine [http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0012273/quotes](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0012273/quotes) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/13 "2016-04-27T22:03:12Z")
> [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](#): > > Sometimes it takes a few days for bruises to show up. You guys ever have those bruises that, not only turn up later, but in a different place? I remember on time I fell really hard on my butt/hip, shortly before going to bed. Well, I sleep on my stomach, and I was surprised later on to develop an impressive bruise on the FRONT/inside of my leg/pelvis. And it was one of those that lingers and changes all the colors from purple through green and yellow. That was weird! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/14 "2016-04-28T01:05:49Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Zombies don’t bruise. Just sayin’ . . . Then we’ll need to re-animate this thread in another five years and check again. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/15 "2016-04-28T02:07:17Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > You guys ever have those bruises that, not only turn up later, but in a different place? I remember on time I fell really hard on my butt/hip, shortly before going to bed. Well, I sleep on my stomach, and I was surprised later on to develop an impressive bruise on the FRONT/inside of my leg/pelvis. And it was one of those that lingers and changes all the colors from purple through green and yellow. That was weird! Hematoma = super bruise. The blood can move around within tissue planes. You had blood leak into subcutaneous tissues- it moved to your front side as you lay on your stomach. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/16 "2016-04-28T07:18:00Z")
Still no bruise but the area is visibly swollen. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/17 "2016-04-28T12:57:42Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Still no bruise but the area is visibly swollen. Probably a bruise or hematoma within the muscle itself. Most visible bruises are due to rupture of capillaries and small vessels in the skin. The bruise is a small collection of blood (and later) blood products in the subcutaneous tissues. It’s close enough to to the skin surface to be visible. If the bleeding is deep, you might not see a bruise, unless blood finds its way (moving along tissue planes) to the subcutaneous tissues. The weird colors are due to conversion and breakdown of hemoglobin in the leaked blood. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/18 "2016-04-28T13:00:38Z")
Or if you hit bone, you may have a “bruise” just under the periosteum, the “skin” of the bone. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/19 "2016-04-29T23:54:17Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > You guys ever have those bruises that, not only turn up later, but in a different place? And this has now happened to me: I’ve just taken off my shoe to find there’s now a significant bruise mark the length and width of my forefinger on the outside of my ankle half an inch below the top of the shoe, but the painful bit - and there’s still a definite lump - is well above that - perhaps four inches above. Bodies are weird. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-i-have-a-bruise/753249/20 "2016-04-30T00:42:49Z")
I had a similar one last sumer - I was walking through a parking lot, closely behind the cars to stay out of traffic. A truck had a trailer hitch, and I barked my shin right into it. Amazing how much force you have just swinging your leg to walk! It was getting better until I went on a hard bike ride a week later, after which it swelled up and drained down to the ankle. Got so I could hardly walk w/o a cane. I had had a trimalleolar fracture w/ ORIF of that ankle less than 6 months earlier. When it didn’t get better, I went to my ortho, wondering if it was broken, if I was going to toss off a blood clot, or what… X-ray was negative. He said they couldn’t even drain anything, as it would have been the consistency of jelly. Just had to wait A LONG TIME for it to be reabsorbed.