Senile purpura bruises and treatment options
I ( and a friend or 2) love gardening. Even with wearing long sleeves while working outside, (today it was about 76 degrees by 8 AM here), I still get poked or scratched. The resulting bleeds and the bruises are way out of proportion to the cause. Anybody have a good suggestion how to cover up some of the bruises on my lower arms (elbow to wrist) so I don’t look so abused when going out in public? Meaning, make-up tricks. Tomorrow it will be around 94 degrees again here, so long sleeves out and about are not what I want to wear going forward.
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My left arm gets them mostly. I agree it’s from years of driving though I don’t hand my arms out the window. I tried creams for crept skin but they didn’t do much. They aren’t for purpura anyway & I don’t like putting creams on in warm weather
My dermatologist recommended DerMend (OTC). It works for me but my bruises get only about the size of a quarter. Be sure to get the maroon top one and not the blue top one as the latter is just ordinary hand cream I think. At first I had to put it on daily but now only every couple of weeks. But that may be because per my dermatologist, I am also using CeraVe cream which is wonderful and seems to protect fragile skin.
While arnica does work on other parts of my body (different type of bruises), it does not work on the senile purpura. I have tried everything with no success. I would wear long sleeves to hide my hideous arms, but I too live in Flordia.
I looked up DerMend, it is just arnica. I have already tried arnica. By the gallons over several months with no change in appearance. Being skeptical, it just seems to be a more expensive brand of arnica
I wish it were just arnica but it appears from the ingredients list that it is a bunch of lab made chemicals with some arnica oil as one of the many, many ingredients. I have some arnica here and will try it to see if it works. All I can tell you right now is that Dermend works quickly and well for me.
I read somewhere that the supplement alpha lipoic acid is useful but. I wonder if someone can comment on this.
Following - I'm 61 year old female. I have autoimmune due to thyroid, graves. Weaning down levothyroxine. I've noticed blood spots if I bump myself. Doctor says our skin gets thinner as we age. But it does look bad!
Anything that might have the effect of “thinning your blood” such as fish oil derivatives, non steroidal and anticoagulants and prednisone or topical cortisone
derivatives on your arms will contribute to the problem.
The fragility is scary when a bump or trauma breaks our skin. I’m convinced plain moisturizer has the maximum
preventive benefit. Long sleeves are my friend.I bump myself more than when is was younger. Be good with sunscreen but our fair skin and genes are to blame.