Diabetic. Have Multiple Bruises On Legs. Color Red-brown. Have HTN And R-Dyastolic Heart Failure. What Is The Severe Bruising On Legs?

Posted on Thu, 25 Jul 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 Answered on

Fri, 23 Aug 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : 62 yr old Male. Have multiple bruises on both legs. Bruises are rather large 3-4in. on both front and back of legs.
2 new very large bruises appeared this morning on the back of the R-leg knee area. Color of the new bruises is red-brown. Other bruises on my legs which I've had for 6-mths never went away, stayed the same large size (3-4 in) but turned grey. I have HTN, R-Dyastolic heart failure, pacemaker and Diabetes Type2 on Insulin QuikPen sliding scale and Levemir. Also have Systemic Lupus w/ COPD and 2nd Pulmonary Hypertension. I am on Plavix but no aspirin and no warfin or other blood thinners. The question is: Why this severe bruising only on legs?

Answered by Dr. Pankaj Malhan (-4 hours later)

Hi

Thanks for asking.

Bruises imply thinning of the blood leading to the rupture of some micro blood vessels and the collection of the blood in the tissues.

Two main reason for the bruises are :

1. Deficiency of the clotting factors either congenital or acquired
2. Medications which lead to platelet de-aggregation leading to thinning of blood and bruises.

You are on plavix, a blood thinner so little bit of bruising is expected.Still if you feel uncomfortable, try getting some blood test to check the bleeding /clotting time and the other clotting factors.

Thanks.

Please let me know if you need further information.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar