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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Bogle Bomb And if you're anything like me

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Speaker 1: and absent blindedly attempt to walk through solid objects instead

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Speaker 1: of around them, you're familiar with bruises. They can be

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Speaker 1: embarrassing reminders of less than graceful moments, or, perhaps for

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Speaker 1: an athlete with hard one marks from a vigorous workout,

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Speaker 1: a mark of profound pride. But however you choose to

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Speaker 1: view bruises, they're pretty fascinating. The variety of colorful patterns

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Speaker 1: they create on the skin is reason enough to want

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Speaker 1: to learn more about these weird and sometimes painful spots

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Speaker 1: that everyone is coped with at one point or another.

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Speaker 1: Otherwise known as a contusion, a bruise is a mark

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Speaker 1: that appears when blood is trapped underneath the surface of

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Speaker 1: the skin. Bruises occur when some type of trauma or

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Speaker 1: injury crushes tiny blood vessels known as capillaries, but doesn't

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Speaker 1: break the skin. As a result of the injury, the

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Speaker 1: broken capillaries leak out red blood cells, which get trapped

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Speaker 1: under the skin, collecting in a pool that forms the blue, purple, red,

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Speaker 1: black blemish. Bruises can feel tender when they first form

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Speaker 1: and can be accompanied by some swelling. They usually take

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Speaker 1: about two weeks to heal, but some bruises can last months.

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Speaker 1: During the healing period, the body breaks down and reabsorbs

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Speaker 1: the pooled blood that produced the mark. As this happens,

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Speaker 1: the color of the bruises can fade from dark to

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Speaker 1: light and take on all kinds of interesting hues along

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Speaker 1: the way. When a bruise first forms, it's usually some

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Speaker 1: shade of red thanks to the fresh blood just below

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Speaker 1: the skin surface. After about a day or two, the

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Speaker 1: hemoglobin in the blood cells starts losing its oxygen, which

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Speaker 1: is what gives blood its red color in the first place.

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Speaker 1: Hemoglobin is the protein that transports oxygen to cells, so

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Speaker 1: as it's broken down by the body, it loses that

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Speaker 1: oxygen it was carrying, and its red tone darkens and

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Speaker 1: shifts to blue, purple, and blackish tones. After a few

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Speaker 1: more days, the mark usually fades to green or yellow,

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Speaker 1: before being hit with a hint of brown and then

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Speaker 1: fading away completely. This color change occurs as the body

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Speaker 1: uses the iron in the hemoglobin to form new red

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Speaker 1: blood cells. The unused decomposed hemoglobin transforms into a green

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Speaker 1: pigment called billa verden, which then converts into a yellow

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Speaker 1: or light brown tinged compound called bilirubin. As all these

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Speaker 1: products are either reabsorbed or purged from the body, the

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Speaker 1: mark fades and disappears. Just About everyone gets bruises, but

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Speaker 1: some people are more prone to them than others. Elderly people,

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Speaker 1: for example, may be more likely to bruise to too

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Speaker 1: thinner skin and softer tissue. Other factors like certain diseases,

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Speaker 1: medical conditions, and medications can also increase a person's risk

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Speaker 1: for bruising. So what do you do when you get

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Speaker 1: a hickey, a shiner, or any other form of contusion.

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Speaker 1: The usually time really does heal all wounds. Eventually, a

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Speaker 1: serious bruise can develop clots that take months to resolve,

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Speaker 1: but will usually go away on their own. And while

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Speaker 1: there are plenty of urban myths and tails about how

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Speaker 1: to magically banish bruises in a snap, the only legit

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Speaker 1: healing method is to chill, literally and figuratively. Doctors recommend

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Speaker 1: applying ice right after the injury occurs, and then resting

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Speaker 1: the injured area as much as you can for the

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Speaker 1: next few days. After that, you can try applying mild

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Speaker 1: heat to increase blood flow, which might speed the healing

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Speaker 1: process up a little bit. By the way, if you

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Speaker 1: find yourself constantly battling bruises, you might want to talk

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Speaker 1: to a doctor to investigate whether you have a nutrient deficiency.

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Speaker 1: Because your blood requires vitamin K o'clock properly. If you

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Speaker 1: don't have enough, you might bruise more easily. Vitamin C

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Speaker 1: is also important to protect your blood vessels. Today's episode

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Speaker 1: was written by Michelle Konstantinovski and produced by Tyler. Playing

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Speaker 1: for moundness and lots of other tender topics, visit our

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Speaker 1: home planet, how stuff works dot com