Health & Care Information Learn all about ecchymosis (bruising red dots on skin) and its causes and treatment. Ecchymosis is characterized by a reddish or bluish discoloration of the skin that is often non-raised and spontaneously caused by a medical condition. The onset of reddish or bluish discoloration of the skin is due to the escape of blood from ruptured blood vessels into the capillaries
Ecchymosis is not a condition or a disorder and is generally harmless. It is however, a symptom of one or more serious underlying medical condition that needs medical attention and intervention. Leukemia is a malignancy of the blood cells including the tissue that produces blood. Easy bruising and bleeding are among the symptoms of leukemia including that of ecchymosis.
An ecchymosis is usually cause by blunt force trauma that will cause your small blood vessels to break under the surface of your skin. It is a subcutaneous purpura with a diameter of 1cm or more and is different from a bruise.
Ecchymosis does not have numerous symptoms to exhibit although the symptoms that may occur if ever may be associated with the existing condition that influenced the development of ecchymosis
It can be diagnosed by looking at the discoloration. Ecchymosis Treatment is generally done at home. Certain home remedies are usually proved to be enough for the treatment of Ecchymosis.
Ecchymosis (bruising red dots on skin)
Bleeding into the skin can occur from broken blood vessels that form tiny red dots (called petechiae). Blood also can collect under the tissue in larger flat areas (called purpura), or in a very large bruised area (called an ecchymosis). The abnormal increase in white blood cells contributes to the formation of ecchymosis spots.
Ecchymosis Definition
This is a medical term that is used to describe a bruise that is over one centimeter in diameter. It is also known sometimes as “hickey” or a small inflammation on the skin. It is pronounced as “e-ki-moh-sis”. Ecchymosis is a skin discoloration caused by bleeding underneath the skin; a bruise. A purplish, flat bruise that occurs when blood leaks out into the top layers of skin is referred to as an ecchymosis.
Periorbital Ecchymosis
Periorbital ecchymosis can be defined as the condition in which dark circles surround the eyes. This condition can have different types of causes, the most common one being represented by the basal skull fracture. In the medical field, periorbital ecchymosis is also presented as panda or raccoon eyes, due to the obvious resemblance. If the condition was caused by a basal skull fracture, the patients are advised against coughing, sneezing or straining, as this can aggravate the condition (further tearing of the meninges). The periorbital ecchymosis forms as the blood from the skull fracture infiltrates into the soft tissues around the eyes.
Ecchymosis vs Bruises
Bruises are nothing but the consequence of body impacting a robust object or a strong item impacting body. At the point when this happens, the delicate tissues under skin or muscle strands and connective tissue are smashed yet the skin does not break or crack. A bruise is caused when tiny blood vessels are damaged or broken as the result of trauma to the skin (be it bumping against something or hitting yourself with a hammer). The raised area of a bump or bruise results from blood leaking from these injured blood vessels into the tissues as well as from the body’s response to the injury. A bruise is medically referred to as a contusion.
Ecchymosis vs Hematoma
Ecchymosis is a degree of hematoma that is larger than 10mm or more than 1cm in diameter. A hematoma is a bleeding into resistant tissue that will limit the extent of the bleeding, e.g. a muscle, under the skin, so limited, a hemorrhage often is into a space, like one’s stomach, although in soft tissue like the brain we also speak of a hemorrhage (hemorrhagic stroke). Roughly speaking a bruise and a contusion is about the same: traumatic tissue damage. In the brain we speak of a brain contusion, not bruising though. A hematoma is found under the skin or in an organ. A hematoma can be tiny or very large and dangerous. This danger is especially pronounced if the hematoma is in the brain, where it has no place to go if it enlarges.
Ecchymosis Causes
Ecchymosis can be caused due to;
• Acroangiodermatitis
• Acute infantile hemorrhagic oedema
• Alemtuzumab
• Amyloidosis
• Anorexia nervosa
• Asphyxiation
• Cilostazol
• Cryoglobulinaemia
• Dengue
• Endocarditis
• Aplastic anaemia
• Cirrhosis
• Disseminated intravascular coagulation disorder
• Leukemia
• Meningococcemia
• Acute renal failure
• Base of skull fracture – periorbital ecchymosis
• Cushing disease
• Steroid use
• Malignancy
• SLE
• Liver disease
• Renal failure
• Multiple myeloma
• Myelofibrosis
• Fat embolism
• Gardner-Diamond syndrome
• Glucocorticoids, topical
• Grey Turner’s sign
• Heat stroke
• Henoch-Schönlein purpura
• Human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis
• Hypersensitivity vasculitis
• Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura
• Leptospirosis
• Neisseria gonorrhea
• Neisseria meningiditis
• Relapsing fever
• Rickettsiae
• Senile purpura
• Thrombocytopenia
• Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
• Typhus fever
• Tyrosinaemia type 1
• Vasculitis
• Vibrio vulnificus
Ecchymosis Treatment
Ecchymosis treatment can be managed at home. The frequent onset of ecchymosis associated with severe pain on the other hand requires medical attention. Other treatment or ecchymosis depends on the existing underlying condition that influenced the onset.
Treatment of ecchymosis includes the following:
- Rest promotes tissue healing that enough rest is recommended to hasten the tissue repair and healing of ecchymosis.
- Ice application facilitates vasoconstriction of the ruptured blood vessels which in turn prevents ecchymosis from extending to the nearby unaffected site.
- Elevation of the affected site can help in inhibiting inflammation as the elevation facilitates a proper venous return while improving the circulation of the affected site.
- Pain relievers such as ibuprofen and other form of analgesics can help reduce the pain associated with the onset of ecchymosis.
- A light massage and stretching exercises can help improve tissue repair as long as the activities do not exacerbate the condition of ecchymosis causing further damage to the tissue and the blood vessels.
