Hickey Remedy?

There’s a simple answer as far as getting rid of it: she can’t get rid if it (I assume your friend is female for some reason). It’s like drinking before driving – time is the only thing that helps.
My best advice would be to pick up some concealer and experiment. Try to make it a lighter shade than her skin color — it’ll blend better.

You can’t really get rid of a bruise any faster than just letting the blood be absorbed by your body and for the region to heal. Perhaps try stage makeup, although blending it could be quite hard.

I’ve heard so many crazy “wives tales” like: rubbing the hickey with a coin and ittl go away! That stuff doesnt work: like what the two above said. Over time (its Monday, so you have a while till the weekend) and by the time the weekend hit it might be not
so bad. Get some really good concealer and your friend will be just fine.

Put a small amount of conceler on the bruise and put make up (foundation and powder) on the neck as well as face. And wear eye-catching jewellery.
Max Factor conceler and make up cover very well.

Leeches

Leeches? How would that work? Ewwie, too!

Clinique is also a great concealer.

…not leeches.
Unless this is a seriously monster hickey the likes of which the world has never seen, I can’t imagine it will still be going strong by the weekend. Is it her wedding? Because then she has other problems.

Turn it into a curling iron burn.

haha! curling iron burn

yeah, i was pretty sure that just great concealer was the answer. A friend of mine blogged about some special concealer you buy at sephora because she covered tattoos with it for her sister’s wedding.

so there are some options other than leeches! :)

There ARE some things you can do that will help although you will probably still need some concealer.

1. Apply ice. Not directly. Wrap it in paper towels of a washcloth and hold it on the hickey area about ten minutes.

2. After icing, gently massage the hickey area using a toothbrush (speeds circulation and thus reabsorption of the under-skin blood.

3. Once bleeding has definitely stopped (next day and subsequent days) take a product with aspirin and caffeine.

4. Try arnica cream. Arnica is an herb useful for bruising and other tissue injuries.

Repeat these steps.

I have to disagree with Marina. There is no way to make the bruise magically disappear. A bruise is the hemoglobin in blood that has been released into the tissue.
1. Ice: Does nothing. In the setting of inflammation, like a sprained ankle, it can help, a little. But now that the bruise has developed, ice cannot help.
2. Toothbrush massage: Never heard of this. Not sure how it will help. The blood is reabsorbed by special cells in the skin called Langerhans cells, which are a type of white blood cell known as macrophages. Also, some blood derived macrophages (macrophage means “big eater”) may come to help, but speeding circulation will not affect that.
3. Aspirin: This is a platelet clotting inhibitor. No effect on the reabsorption of blood.
4. Arnica: Not sure what that is either.

I suggest, as others have, that you find a great beautician.

could get covered up with a big tattoo of someone’s name. Preferably the name of someone other than the person they are trying to conceal the hickey from…that way the hickey won’t be the issue any longer. Or maybe, just come clean about the whole escapade, cheater. LOL

why is everyone jumping to conclusions that this person is cheating? The asker never said the person with the hickey is the person getting married, and even then, maybe the hickey was given by their fiancé...

But to answer the question, there are old wives tales to get rid of bruises, like the mentioned scraping with a coin, scraping with a cold spoon, and I’ve even heard that spreading coffee grounds would work, but it’s all a load of crap. Wait until the day of the wedding, than use concealer. It’s the only option… Unless you really do want to go the curling iron burn route.

BSILVER- only ezra said that and he was probably joking. Do not say everyone is jumping to conclusions, please.

@shilolo Reread my answer. It does not contain the words “magically disappear.” It says there are things you can do that will help.

@bsilver The methods I mentioned are not “old wives tales.”

You folks are awfully insistent there is nothing that can be done and you are both wrong. You can speed healing. Here is information straight from medline about ice:

“The treatment for a bruise is most effective right after the injury while the bruise is still reddish.

* A cold compress such as an icepack or a bag of frozen peas should be applied to the affected area for 20–30 minutes in order to speed healing and reduce swelling. Do not apply ice directly to the skin. Wrap the icepack in a towel.”

Note: emphasis in the quote is mine.

Here is the reference: http://firstaid.webmd.com/bruises_treatment_firstaid.htm

The massage I suggested is based on increasing blood flow to the area, which speeds the reabsorption. Here is what Medline says about that offering the use of heat to achieve the same goal: “After about 48 hours, heat in the form of a warm washcloth applied to the bruise for 10 minutes or so 2 or 3 times a day may increase blood flow to the bruised area allowing the skin to reabsorb the blood more quickly. Ultimately, the bruise will fade in color.” Massage to increase circulation to speed healing of soft tissue injuries is accepted medical practice and accepted also by medical insurers.

As to the recommendation for an aspirin and caffiene containing product like Excedrin, it was about stopping additional subcutaneal clotting and pain relief.

Arnica is an herb used widely in Europe. The clinical evidence supporting its use is mixed primarily because reviews of the studies done to date found them flawed in structure or methodology.

@The Haight, thank you, I was joking. No offense was meant to anyone!
Here’s to keepin’ it civil…

@Marina: Let me reply point by point.

“The treatment for a bruise is most effective right after the injury while the bruise is still reddish.

* A cold compress such as an icepack or a bag of frozen peas should be applied to the affected area for 20–30 minutes in order to speed healing and reduce swelling. Do not apply ice directly to the skin. Wrap the icepack in a towel.”

> There has never been a clinical trial on the use of ice for first aid. The old mnemonic RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) is useful, but no one actually knows whether icing an injury really speeds healing and reduces inflammation.

The massage I suggested is based on increasing blood flow to the area, which speeds the reabsorption. Here is what Medline says about that offering the use of heat to achieve the same goal: “After about 48 hours, heat in the form of a warm washcloth applied to the bruise for 10 minutes or so 2 or 3 times a day may increase blood flow to the bruised area allowing the skin to reabsorb the blood more quickly. Ultimately, the bruise will fade in color.” Massage to increase circulation to speed healing of soft tissue injuries is accepted medical practice and accepted also by medical insurers.

> Your quote states that “heat may increase blood flow to the area” and that “ultimately, the bruise will fade in color.” Wow, that’s definitive. I could wrap a bruise in seaweed and it will “ultimately fade in color too.” Again, there are no clinical trials to prove or disprove warm compresses.

As to the recommendation for an aspirin and caffiene containing product like Excedrin, it was about stopping additional subcutaneal clotting and pain relief.

> Explain to me how additional subcutaneal clotting would be bad? Actually, by taking aspirin, you run the risk of preventing additional clotting, which would result in more bleeding and more bruising. Taking an NSAID like ibuprofen would help reduce inflammation and provide pain relief without interfering with clotting.

Arnica is an herb used widely in Europe. The clinical evidence supporting its use is mixed primarily because reviews of the studies done to date found them flawed in structure or methodology.

> Your response speaks for itself.

Cheers.

@shilolo I retire from the field of discussion, luckily unbruised, since you have no help for me. (Grin)

@thehaight- playthebanjo also implied it, and I will be the first to apologize and say I may have overreacted myself… Not exactly having the best day, but that’s irrelevant to the discussion.

@marina, did I say anything you mentioned was an old wives tale? No, I didn’t. You mentioned massaging with a toothbrush, not scraping with a coin, nothing else I said compared to anything you mentioned.

An old wife told me to say that about the tattoo. LOL

Dermablend make-up is the best for this type of stuff. Models use it to cover up tattoos.

I’ve always heard hickeys go away a lot faster if you put toothpaste on them

The only thing that toothpaste gets rid of is plaque.

Time for the old “I fell and hit my neck on the, um, coffee table” trick.

You could always say it was a hoovering/vacuuming accident…..

Thanks everybody!

No worries about offending her, it’s her best friend’s wedding and the happy couple is still very much in love.

the fellow in question though may be out of luck though, he sucks.

get it? sucks? LOL

heh heh ;)

precisely!