I have recently come back from a residential with the school i work at. Myself, another teacher and a group of kids have had great fun doing activities such as caving, rock climbing, abseiling and general tomfoolery. Was great at the time, but i have now come home and am literally covered in bruises. Normally this wouldnt be a problem but with the lovely weather i am desperate to wear a skirt but my legs look so hideous i cant. I know witch hazel brings out a bruise but thats not the problem i have, i want the bruises i have to disappear as fast as possible. Anything i can do to speed up the process??

But "bringing out" the bruise is part of the process I'm afraid :-)  Arnica, herbal, can thin the blood and speed the breaking down of a bruise too.  Perhaps a bit of fake tan could see you through.

Yup as said to cure a bruise you have to bring it out which is why using hebal remidies to do so clears it up quicker! :)

I'll have to give that a try - my legs are covered in bruises.  Not caused by rock climbing or anything so exciting - but a giddy GSD in a lampshade lol lol

I have absolutely no idea about the science of it but ice can help the bruise to recede. I seem to recall it's something to do with closing blood vessels?

Agree with isabel - arnica and fake tan although people probably wont notice, so wear your skirt and let some sun about the sore bits! :-D

Due to my job, I ALWAYS have bruised legs, arms etc, and still go out in the skimpiest clothes. Sometimes someone says something, but mainly noone notices LOL
Lea :)

i wish it was bruises that i just had on my legs, but it is psoriasis, and it looks so unsightly , but the sun does wonders for it and i do wear shorts , only in my garden to help clear it up, but outside i wear 3/4 length trousers and i know some people look but never say anything.
so go on wear a skirt a bruise is nothing
carolann

arnica is brilliant, i've got an implant in my arm (babies are bad ;)) and i had a MASSIVE bruise that covered most of my upper arm. my sis got me to take arnica (tastes pretty nice actually lol) and it was gone in 2 days.

mind and check that its ok with any medication you might be on though

> my sis got me to take arnica (tastes pretty nice actually lol)

Would that be something homeopathic?  Herbal arnica is generally a cream, in fact I have never seen it as anything else and I would not recommend licking it :-)  Good point about checking about medication, all blood thinners can be contraindicated with some medicines particularly if you are on medication to reduce blood pressure but if you are talking about homeopathy I can't see the need to bother as there has never been any evidence produced that it has any effect what so ever.

> Herbal arnica is generally a cream

qvc do a great gel version which is excellent used straight from the fridge.

It's still topical.  Herbal arnica would be a bit rough on the stomach.

lol yes sorry, the homeopathic balls that your not to touch. they did taste quite sweet and worked very very well

> worked very very well

MMMmmmmmm .....or the bruise went through it's normal physiological process anyway :-)

> It's still topical

I wasn't disagreeing with you Isabel, merely adding that it is also available in other forms.

:-)  The fridge chilling sounds very soothing.  I shall look out for that one.

not with the size of this thing and i normally take longer than that for bruises to fade. it was massive purply storm cloud grey and black, next morning was green and grey, by that evening yellow and green and was gone about 2 days later. dunno if you know how these things go in but the implants a bit longer than a kirby grip and is a few millimetres across- not big but they inject it into your arm with some considerable force (having numbed your arm up first!) so it leaves a whopper

The rate that bruises dissipate would make a wonderful, and cheap, subject for a double blind trial to actually produce the evidence that homeopathy works and yet despite this and many, many other possible examples the Homeopathy Society has never quite come up with the goods :-)

I've decided to let nature take its course! Going slowly

Ive spent all morning thinking of what my mum put oj bruises its called Lasonile and its designed to take the colour out of soft skin injuries, works as well.
You can buy it in Boots the Chemist.

I have found Arnica gel quite good, it's water based, I've used when the dogs have caught me and it seems to lessen the initial bruise and it seems to fade quicker too ;)

obviously this is just my experience of it ;)

good luck!

:)

Savlon do a cream with arnica specifically for bruises. I used to teach Karate so would normally have bruises on arms or legs (smashing shins with someone does smart a bit!), and always had a tube of this in my kit bag - it was brilliant stuff.