“Warm compresses can help open up your body’s blood vessels and break down the stain, taking away the red blood cells that have spilled out from the blood vessels and into your skin,” Dr. Vij explains.
Hickeys
A hickey is a dark red or purple mark on your skin caused by intense suction. Like other bruises, it should fade in about 2 weeks. The neck is a common site for hickeys because of its easy access, but you can get them anywhere.
When your partner sucks on and bites your skin, the pressure breaks little blood vessels under the surface. Those broken vessels release tiny spots of blood called petechiae.
A collection of these blood spots forms a larger dark spot, which is basically a bruise. The bruise may change color over time from red or dark purple to yellow.
Here’s a guide to the causes of, and solutions to, hickeys.
How Can I Get Rid of My Hickey?
To bring down swelling and reduce bleeding, put an ice pack on it for the first 1-2 days after the mark appears. Wrap the ice pack in a towel and hold it to your skin for 15 minutes at a time, several times a day. After the second day, you can switch to a warm compress.
If the hickey hurts, take an over-the-counter pain reliever like acetaminophen.
How can I conceal my hickey?
When you have a hickey on your neck, people tend to know how it got there. You can always cover it. Options include:
- Makeup. Choose your makeup tone based on the color of the hickey. A yellow tone will conceal purple bruises, while a green tone hides redness.
- Bandage. Choose one large enough to cover the hickey.
- Turtleneck. This works in cooler weather.
- Scarf. This may be the most versatile option.
- Collared shirt.
How to Avoid a Hickey
Good communication may be the most effective way to prevent a hickey.
- If your partner spends too much time on one area, suggest another spot.
- Ask your partner to be more gentle.
Are There Any Risks to Having a Hickey?
A hickey shouldn’t cause any real problems, but see a doctor if:
- The hickey doesn’t go away after a couple of weeks.
- The bruise is very sore.
- You notice other bruises on your body, especially if you don’t know how you got them.
- There’s a lump over the bruise.
These symptoms could be a sign of a medical condition, like a blood disease or clotting disorder.
It’s not very likely, but a handful of serious injuries have happened after hickeys.
For example, a New Zealand woman got a hickey and became partially paralyzed. Emergency room doctors found a clot in their brain and treated them for a stroke. And a 35-year-old woman in Denmark became weak on their right side from a stroke 12 hours after they’d gotten a hickey.
How might a hickey lead to a stroke? It takes a very unusual set of circumstances. A major blood vessel called the carotid artery runs down either side of your neck. This artery supplies blood to your brain, face, and neck. In theory, putting a lot of pressure on the carotid artery might cause a clot to form or shake loose a clot that’s already there.
This series of events is very unlikely. The women in New Zealand and Denmark could have had earlier artery problems that put them at greater risk for a stroke.
To be on the safe side, try not to give or receive a hickey close to the carotid artery. That’s the area at the top of your neck, just to the side of your chin.
Show Sources
Cleveland Clinic: “Bruises: Management and Treatment.”
Lees, M. Skin Care: Beyond the Basics, Cengage Learning, 2013.
Mayo Clinic: “Bruise: First Aid.”
Medscape: “Can a Hickey Really Cause a Stroke?”
Ugeskr Laeger: “Love bite on the neck resulted in an embolic stroke.”
Payne-James, J. Simpson’s Forensic Medicine, CRC Press, 2011.
The New Zealand Medical Journal: “Love bites — an unusual cause of blunt internal carotid artery injury.”
Nemours TeensHealth: “Bruises.”
How to Get Rid of a Hickey
You got a little hot and heavy in the heat of the moment — and now there’s evidence of it for all to see, right there on your neck.
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A hickey is a bruise caused by trauma to the skin, such as by sucking or biting. And although they aren’t serious injuries, they can be pretty embarrassing! So how can you get rid of a hickey ASAP?
Dermatologist Alok Vij, MD, explains how to minimize a hickey while you wait for it to fully fade.
How long does a hickey take to heal?
The truth sucks (hickey pun intended): There’s no quick and easy way to get rid of a hickey. Like other forms of bruising, they need time to heal.
There’s good news, though. Most bruises last anywhere from three days to two weeks, and hickies, which are a superficial form of bruising, don’t take as long to heal as other types.
“The amount of trauma to the skin that creates a hickey isn’t as great as the trauma that causes, say, a black eye,” says Dr. Vij, “so hickies can heal earlier on the spectrum as compared to other causes of bruising.”
And while the internet is full of DIY tips that claim to get rid of a hickey overnight, Dr. Vij says there’s no real science to most of them. Instead, he shares his top tips for minimizing your hickey’s appearance as it heals.
Apply warm compresses to your hickey
Your best bet is to treat your hickey with good old-fashioned warm compresses.
“Warm compresses can help open up your body’s blood vessels and break down the stain, taking away the red blood cells that have spilled out from the blood vessels and into your skin,” Dr. Vij explains.
You can do the following method as many as four times a day throughout the duration of your hickey:
- Fill a microwavable bowl with water, and heat it in the microwave until it’s warm enough that you can just barely stand to keep a finger dipped into it. “It should be warmer than bathwater, but nowhere near boiling,” Dr. Vij says.
- Soak two clean washcloths in the bowl of water, then grab one and wring it out. Apply it to your hickey, letting it sit until the washcloth has come back down to room temperature. Then, return that washcloth to the bowl of water and wring out the other one, repeating the process with the second washcloth.
- Repeat the process three or four times, for a total of 15 to 20 minutes. You may have to reheat the bowl of water between applications as it cools.
And though cold compresses can help in cases of more substantial bruising, don’t bother putting them on your hickey. “The trauma to your skin is minimal enough that cold won’t do much good,” Dr. Vij says.
Instead, jump right to warm compresses and repeat as necessary for as many days as it takes the mark to fade.
What to put on a hickey
In addition to the warm compress method, you can apply the following gels or creams to your hickey to help speed the healing process:
- Arnica: Doctors aren’t sure exactly why, but arnica has been found to help bruises heal more quickly. Avoid it, though, if you take blood thinners.
- Vitamin C:Research suggests that vitamin C can help blood clot, which helps reduce the amount of bruising.
- Vitamin K: Though vitamin K may help fade bruises, apply it topically instead of taking it orally, as the oral form is associated with more potential risks.
Some sources suggest aloe vera, which can calm skin inflammation (as in the case of sunburns) — but Dr. Vij says it’s not actually much help on hickies. “With a hickey, there’s not that much skin inflammation,” he says. “It’s just slight trauma.”
How to hide a hickey while it heals
If you have a big event coming up, you can ask your doctor about laser removal for a hickey in the 24 to 48 hours after it first appears. Beyond that, though, even lasering can’t help much, and you’ll just have to wait out the healing process.
With no real way to remove a hickey, your best bet is to keep it covered, whether by clothing or with light makeup. Time to stock up on scarves!
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
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