Hickey Remedies

Ah! It's a beautiful Monday morning. Time to get up, take a shower and get ready for office. Hmmm... my eyes look puffy and a bit red too! Not a big deal! Wait, what's that little tiny bruise doing on my neck! Oh God, not again...

Well, looks like last night's activity paid off in an undesirable manner and that too when on a day when you have to go to work. Right! You have guessed it already. I am taking about hickey or popularly known as a love bite. This is a tiny, but prominent reddish mark which keeps darkening on the skin. It may be compared to a bruise which is a repercussion of broken blood vessels in the affected area. Needless to say that this mark is caused after an act of biting or sucking the skin on any part of the body; may be a stormy kissing session by a lover, to be precise! Hickey does not raise any concern on general health, but it does take quite sometime to heal. Healing time depends upon the size and depth of the hickey and considering this, it may take a few days and even weeks. So to say, there are no remedies as such which may cure a hickey instantly. It has to run its course before it gets resolved on its own. But there are ways to hasten the healing process.

How To Remove a Hickey?

Before I come to the methods which can help speed up the recovery, it is to be known that, the higher up on the body this bruise is, the more chances are there for it to heal. Clinically, this small injury to the skin is termed as subcutaneous hematoma. Due to the kiss or bite, when the blood vessels are damaged, the blood escapes into the skin and tissues thus, the reddish mark.

Ice Ice Baby!
Staring with the first method for helping the healing process is applying of ice. As soon as you notice the bruise, get some ice and apply it for 10 minutes each time. However, wrap the ice in a towel before using it. Direct application may injure the skin further. The sooner this method is applied, the lesser would be swelling and so the bleeding.

Give It Some Warmth
After about a day, try applying heat to the hickey area for say, 10 - 15 minutes. You can warm a cloth by putting it near a heater or soak it in warm water. This heating treatment helps in getting the blood recycled faster. Again, if the heat should cause any swelling, then you may use cold compresses. If your hickey is anywhere else other than the neck, then applying an elastic wrap with mild pressure to the area, is also effective.

Magic of Vitamins
Healing hickey naturally also involves using vitamin based creams and supplements. Taking vitamin K and vitamin C as supplements or using them topically helps in preventing bruises, healing them at a faster rate. A daily intake of zinc is known to help bruises fade. Also, a massage to the hickey area with vitamin E oil, provides a great deal of help in the treatment.

Other Methods
You may also use comfrey cream or oil, calendula oil or cream, arnica gel, hazel, vinegar compress, aor heated cabbage. These self-care measures are believed to help heal a hickey, although they are backed up by any medical evidence. However, they are also not likely to cause any side effects. So you might as well, give it a try!

And when none of these self-care measures work, you may get help from a concealer or by wearing some fancy scarfs, turtle neck or a shirt with a collar up. And hey, you can always come up with stories! In my case, I said that I was searching for a cricket ball in a group of thorny bushes, in my neighborhood! And guess what, it worked! All the best with that love bite of yours!