General bruising relief cream

[jujube]

Hi, can anyone recommend a cream that would fix a dark purple bruise left on my arm from looking for veins? Maybe something with arnica?

 

[shadow puppet]

I love all Arnica products made by Boiron. I normally use their Arnica gel because it also has a gentle cooling effect. Boiron also makes sublingual pellets. Boiron products can be found at Whole Foods, Sprouts and online from several sources including Amazon.

 

[AG_PhamD]

Hi, can anyone recommend a cream that would fix a dark purple bruise left on my arm from looking for veins? Maybe something with arnica?

DerMend is the big name brand product for Arnica that I’m aware of.

It’s worth noting the evidence for Arnica improving bruising is very weak, meta analysis show negligible effects at most. Anecdotally, some people say it helps. In my opinion is it worth $27… probably not. That said, it can’t hurt. You’re probably better off with concealer though.

As a PharmD my opinion is that most herbal “medicines” are not effective- they rely on marketing and the placebo effect. (The ones that do work often are often suboptimal treatments- ie less effective, require too many doses per day to be practical, and/or have worse side effects than pharmaceutical alternatives).

The best course of action is immediately after the injury, apply ice for 15min a few times a day for 2 days. After 2 days you can do warm compresses a few times a day. You can also use an ace bandage to provide light compression.

Also consider there are many medications that can increase bleeding.

There is no OTC treatment to really get rid of bruising. Lasers might be effective, but you’d have to talk to a dermatologist about that. That’s outside my wheelhouse. If such an option exists, it certainly would not be worth the cost.

 

[shadow puppet]

It’s worth noting the evidence for Arnica improving bruising is very weak, meta analysis show negligible effects at most. Anecdotally, some people say it helps.

As someone on blood thinners who bruises if you just look at me, whether or not it aligns with your medical training, I can say it has and does work for me. Even my oral surgeon, a non believer, was gobsmacked at how little bruising I had following three hours of hand crushing surgery on my lower jaw.

Sometimes you need to just give something a try and learn for yourself if it works or not. For me, it has never failed. I've been using arnica in one form or another for over 25 years. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[AG_PhamD]

As someone on blood thinners who bruises if you just look at me, whether or not it aligns with your medical training, I can say it has and does work for me. Even my oral surgeon, a non believer, was gobsmacked at how little bruising I had following three hours of hand crushing surgery on my lower jaw.

Sometimes you need to just give something a try and learn for yourself if it works or not. For me, it has never failed. I've been using arnica in one form or another for over 25 years. Just my 2 cents worth.

I have an obligation to work off evidence based medicine. Is it possible arnica does work for some or even many people- sure, there just isn’t good data to support it’s use. The studies that do promote its use suggest 1-2 days of improvement. The problem is these are poorly designed and with few participants. And comparing bruises in a study between different people (especially at such a small scale) or even between different places on the same person’s body are problematic.

I’ll just point out the obvious issue with analysis of bruising, especially self-analysis, is it can be highly subjective.

As I said, it’s not a situation where it would hurt to use it. Assuming it’s being used topically, short of an allergic reaction (possible with any medication), there are no other major risks. Intervention is fully cosmetic and does not pose any health risks (versus something like cancer)- assuming we’re not taking about such severe bruising risks causing compartment syndrome or that is indicative of possible internal organ damage.

Generally speaking I would say if a natural/herbal product was highly successful, a pharma company would have found a way to patent it to market it exclusively. There are various ways of doing this.

That said, trial and error is very much an unfortunate reality of pharmaceutical treatments. Even with the evolution of things like pharmacogenomics (genetic testing), it still often still comes down to varying degrees of trial and error.

 

[shadow puppet]

I 150% disagree with most of your viewpoint but it doesn't surprise me. The OP asked for a recco, I responded based on 25 years of use and experience. In my book, that does count for something.

I abhor big pharma although I have no choice but to use it and in many cases, pay their out of control prices. But anytime I can opt for a more natural alternative, that works, you bet I will use it. Thank the Goddess big pharma hasn't made a monopoly on what many of us prefer to use. Some of which have been around for hundreds of years for a reason.

To the OP @jujube - I'm sorry your thread got hijacked. I hope you found some arnica that worked for you.