8 reasons for unexplained bruises on your body

Do you bruise in places that you don't even remember bumping or hurting, and the bruise doesn't go away for months together? Read more about what could cause it.

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Do you notice bruises on your your body even though you have not bumped into anything or hurt yourself? Does it stay and not fade for months on end? And more importantly is this a common and constant phenomenon? Well, its probably time you took a look at the common causes for unexplained bruising on your body.

What causes bruises?

Bruises are caused when blood vessels are damaged or broken as a result of skin injury. Blood leaks from these injured blood vessels into surrounding tissues resulting in a bruise. It is the body's response to the injury. Medically termed contusion, bruises could develop due to a lot of things ranging from ageing to nutritional deficiencies and effects medications to serious conditions like haemophilia and cancer. In some cases, sporadic bruises are the result of genetic predisposition too. Research suggests that bruises occur more easily in females than males. There is a difference in the way each gender organises fat and blood vessels in the body. In the male population, the blood vessels are more tight. That's why they are less likely to be damaged. Here are eight causes of bruising on your body that you need to know about.

#1 Ageing:

When you grow old, you get bruises more easily. This is because the skin and fatty tissues, which shield your blood blood vessels, weaken over time. This makes you vulnerable to bruises even from minor injuries. Constant bruising at the back of the hands and arms is common in older adults. These bruises, known as actinic purpura, may start with red flat blotches, then turn purple, deepen and gradually fade away. This type of bruising occurs because the blood vessel walls become weak from many years of sun exposure. Aspirin, coumadin, alcohol, all of these worsen the condition.

#2 Nutritional deficiencies: Deficiency of certain vitamins and minerals can cause bruises due to their role in blood clotting and wound healing.

• Vitamin K: It helps blood to clot and is an essential component of bone structure. Deficiency of this vitamin affects normal blood clotting, thus causing bruising. Here are 4 signs you have vitamin K deficiency
• Vitamin C: It is essential for synthesis of collagen and other compounds that help the skin and blood vessels to withstand the impacts that lead to bruises. Therefore, deficiency of vitamin C can lead to poor healing and bruises. Here are top sources of vitamin C
• Minerals:Zinc and iron are essential minerals that help wound healing. In addition, iron deficiency results in anemia, a known cause for constant bruising.
• Bioflavonoids: Citrine, rutin, catechin and quercetin are some bioflavonoids that are extremely valuable in correcting a tendency toward bruising. All these compounds can be easily obtained through foods such as amla, citrus fruits like oranges, mosambi, sesame seeds (til), beetroot, bananas, etc. to beat bruising due to nutritional deficiency.

#3 Von Willebrand Disease: Von Willebrand disease is an inherited bleeding disorder that affects your blood's ability to clot, resulting in heavy, hard-to-stop bleeding after an injury. This disease either occurs when the protein called von Willebrand factor is present in low levels in the blood or when the protein doesn t work well. Therefore, a person suffering from this disease is likely to develop frequent, large bruises following minor bumps or injuries. Worse cases of VWD have severe bleeding episodes for no reason.

#4 Cancer and Chemotherapy: If you're undergoing chemotherapy and as a result have low blood platelets (below 400,000) due to underproduction of platelets, you could frequently develop bruises over your body.

#5 Thrombophilia: A low platelet count due to bleeding disorders such as thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura (TTP) or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) can also affect the body's ability to form blood clots normally, increasing the chances of bruising.

#6 Hemophilia: Hemophilia is the opposite process of thrombophilia. In people with hemophilia, there is an increased tendency to bleed because of abnormality of blood clotting factor that does not allow the formation of clots. Unexplained and excessive bleeding or bruising is one of the symptoms of hemophilia.

#7 Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: Easy bruising is also a characteristic manifestation of collagen disorders that are inherited. For example, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). Bruising in this case occurs because the capillaries and blood vessels surrounding the connective tissues become fragile and break easily. Extensive bruising, delayed wound healing, rupture of arteries leading to severe internal bleeding or premature death, and rupture of hollow organs such as the intestine or the gravid uterus (fetus developing in the uterus) are the predominant features of this syndrome.

#8 Medication and supplements: Certain blood thinners like warfarin and aspirin prevent the blood from clotting can make you susceptible to constant bruising. NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, corticosteroids such as cortisol or prednisone, and even SSRIs such as Prozac may cause easy bruising. Natural supplements such as ginkgo biloba, fish oil and garlic when used in excess may cause blood to thin and lead to easy bruising. However, this happens only in rare cases since supplements alone cannot thin the blood excessively unless used alongside blood thinning medications.

When should you worry about constant bruises?

Seek medical help immediately if you feel extreme pressure in a bruised part of your body, especially if the area is large or very painful. This may be due to a condition known as compartment syndrome . This is potentially life threatening and requires prompt medical attention. Also call your doctor if you have signs of infection around the bruised area, pus, or fever.

Given the fact that any of these conditions could be contributing to the constant bruising, a full medical evaluation is necessary to determine the exact cause. It may turn out to be nothing serious, but why take the risk?

Have any doubts about how to reduce bruises, click here.

Did you know even homemade food can cause food poisoning? Click here to find out how!

Image source: Getty images

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References:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/vwd/

http://chemocare.com/chemotherapy/side-effects/bleeding-problems.aspx#.Ui_7tX9MdTA

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004479/

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2141.2004.05220.x/pdf