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| These are called: Actinic Purpura Solar Purpura Senile Purpura Ultraviolet Radiation-induced Skin Changes Chronic Sun Exposure Bateman's Purpura Witch's Pinches |
| About 5 years ago, I began to get strange bruises on the top of my forearms and hands. The skin on these same places began to look sort of brittle and thin. After awhile, it became so bad, I could just barely scrape my arm or hand on the edge of a book and get a really big bruise. I had to stop wearing my watch because it gave me bruises. I couldn't figure out what was happening, but it was very distressing. I work in a book store, and customers would look at me like they thought I had some terrible disease. The people at the nail salon where I get my nails done began asking lots of questions about what was wrong with my skin, and why did I have these scarry looking bruises. I could tell they didn't believe me when I said I really didn't know what they were or why I had them. I do know that my mother had them and also my grandmother. I went to my regular doctor, and he said they were just signs of aging skin. He didn't seem to be awfully interested. I saw several dermotologists, all of whom said the same thing. They said it was just aging skin and there was really nothing I could do about it, except to be very careful not to bump my arms and hands. I started always wearing long sleeves, but you could still see them, because the tops of my hands were just terrible looking. Once I was working at the information counter at the bookstore and this woman about 30 years old came up to me all excited and said rather loudly that I had a classic case of Senile Purpura! She went on to inform me (and everyone else within earshot) that they are commonly called "Witch's Pinches"! She happily said that they seem to be inherited and there is nothing to be done for them, no one actually knows what causes them or why people get them, and they are nothing to worry about. She was some kind of doctor in town for a convention. Some doctors just don't think about your feelings at all. One day, I was explaining to my boss that I really didn't want to shelve the art books because the books are large and they sometimes fall over on top of my arms and hands, and give me big nasty-looking bruises, and my boss was looking at me like perhaps he should get someone younger to take my place (bosses are always afraid of being sued so if they find out you have much of anything at all, they will get that look). But anyway, this customer overheard me and came up and said that Vitamin K Cream would fix it. She was a nice lady with white hair, she was probably in her mid 70's. Then her husband came up and she was telling him, and he was agreeing with her about the Vitamin K. Then he said that Doctors are just guessing most of the time, and actually they don't know shit from shinola. Sorry, but that is just what he said. So I went to the drug store and bought a tube of Vitamin K Cream. It says on the tube that it's for Spider Veins, Leg Bruises and other skin conditions. It doesn't say anything about bruises on your arms or hands. It's called VITA -K SOLUTION and you find it over by all that strange stuff, like under-the-eye-cream to get rid of dark circles under the eyes, and the hair removal products and that stuff that's supposed to be an instant face lift. Well, I started putting it on my arms and the top of my hands twice a day. My skin got a lot better and didn't feel so dry and scaly, and the bruising began to get better. I mean they didn't seem to happen as often.. But they still happened. But I was seeing actual improvement So I began to put this stuff on my vericose veins and all over my legs, which are always very dry and itchy. The veins began to sort of go away and the skin on my legs felt much much nicer. Then my husband and I went out with another couple, and the wife asked me about the bruises on my hands and arms. I told her all about it, and she said she knew an older woman who suffered with these things, and her friend used something called ARNICA CREAM that seemed to work. So I went to the health-food store, and got some Nelson's ARNICA CREAM. It says apply gently to bruised areas. I discovered over time, it's most effective if you squeeze some cream directly out of the tube onto the bruise, and don't rub it in. Just let a blob of this stuff sit on the bruise. The sooner you put Arnica on the bruise after you get it, the better it will work. It does look kind of silly, this white blob of cream sitting on top of my hand, so I usually just do this at home. But it really helps, it will heal one of these awful bruises in a week instead of a month or longer. Because the bad thing about the bruises is that it takes forever to heal them. That's why they look so awful, because it's so easy to get them, and it takes so long for them to go away. I hope this helps anyone out there with this problem, because it makes a person feel so ugly. Doctor's don't seem to realize that it may not mean I'm dying, but it really is hard to live with something like this. I think that customer's husband was right, I think doctors are just like car mechanics, they just guess & hope for the best. I read an article in People Magazine that some young woman who is in a rock band had some major plastic surgery and after the operation, her doctor put her in some kind of high-oxygen box so she wouldn't bruise so bad. That's interesting, because when I went to visit my brother in Colorado, who lives at 8,000 feet, all my bruises cleared up within 4 days. I mean they just disappeared. It was like a miracle, but then when I came home, it all started up again. So perhaps I should go live on top of a mountain. It would probably be hard to find a job on a mountain-top. And I thought that the higher the altitude, the less oxygen there is? But then I found out about the VITA-K cream and the ARNICA cream, so things are getting better. I've done a lot of research on the internet, and the general conclusion seems to be that it's sun-damage. If I find out anything else that is helpful, I'll add it to this. UPDATE!! I now drink 3 big glasses of Orange Juice a day, and it makes a big difference. It adds a bit to my caloric intake, but I'd rather be a little rounder than all bruised up and ugly. I tried Vitamin C in pill form, and got no results at all. |