You expect to see purple when you knock your leg into a table or accidentally elbow the locker room wall while changing at the gym. But bruising that comes from the slightest touch or mystery black and blues that show up with zero explanation can be alarming, not to mention unsightly. Don’t panic—one of these factors is likely the culprit. You Have Thin Skin Bruises happen when the blood vessels under the skin break after being hit and then bleed under the skin. If your skin has lost collagen thanks to the effects of aging, it’s more susceptible to injury, says Holly Phillips, M.D., women's health specialist in New York City and medical contributor to CBS News. You’ve Racked Up Sun Damage Skin that’s been damaged by UV rays loses its pliability and resilience, and that can lead to easier or more noticeable bruising, says Marc Leavey, M.D., a primary care physician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. You’re Taking Certain Meds Aspirin, steroids, and blood thinners can all put the brakes on blood clotting, says Phillips. So you when you smack your knee into the bedpost, you'll bleed under the skin there for a longer period of time than normal. You Lift Weights Even if you don’t lift much or feel it in the moment, lifting can lead to microscopic tears in muscle fiber that show up as bruises, says Leavey. It Runs in Your Family Thanks a lot, mom and dad. This is the big factor as to whether or not you bruise easily—if your mom gets black and blue for no apparent reason at all, you probably will too, says Phillips. You’re Super Pale Actually, pallid skin doesn’t mean that you’re more prone to bruising, just that any slight discoloration you do get is more visible than it is on people with darker skin shades, says Leavey. You Have an Underlying Illness It's incredibly rare, but sometimes a tendency to turn purple can be a sign of a blood clotting disorder or even leukemia, says Phillips, though you would likely have other strange symptoms. If it used to take a lot for you to score a black and blue mark but now they come easily, and you can’t explain them away with any of these other factors, raise the possibility with your doctor. source
